AGENTLE  CYNIC 

'BEiisiG  The  book 

OF  ECCLESIAStES 


MORRIS  JASTROW,  Jr. 


tihtavy  of t:he  theological  ^tmimvy 

PRINCETON    .   NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

John   T.    Galloway 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 


la  <§mtle  Cpic 


BEING  A  TRANSLATION 
OF  THE 

BOOK   OF  KOHELETH 

COMMONLY  KNOWN  AS  ECCLESIASTES 
STRIPPED  OF  LATER  ADDITIONS 

ALSO 

ITS  ORIGIN,  GROWTH  AND 
INTERPRETATION 

y/  BY 

MORRIS  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D 

Professor  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 


"Come,  fill  the  Cup  and  in  the  fire  of  Spring 
Your  Winter-garment  of  Repentance  fling; 
The  Bird  of  Time  has  but  a  little  way 
To  flutter — and  the  Bird  is  on  the  Wing." 

Omar  Khayyam 


PHILADELPHIA  &  LONDON 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 
1919 


COPYRIGHT,   I919.  BY  J.  B.  UPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


PRINTED  BY  J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

AT  THE  WASHINGTON  SQUARE   PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA.  U.  S.  A. 


TO 

GEORGE  AARON  BARTON 

BRTN  MAIVR   COLLEGE 

ALBERT  TOBIAS  CLAY 

YylLE   UNlVERSirr 

AND 
JAMES  ALAN  MONTGOMERY 

UNIVERSirr  OF  PENNSYLyANIA 


FOREfFORD 

|HIS  work  is  an  endeavor  to  place 
before  a  general  public,  and  in 
popular  form,  the  results  of  the 
critical  study  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment as  applied  to  a  single 
book  in  the  collection.  I  have 
chosen  the  book  commonly- 
known  as  Ecclesiastes,  because 
of  the  intensely  human  interest  attaching  to  this 
specimen  of  the  ancient  literature  of  Palestine. 

The  designation  "Ecclesiastes",  to  be  taken  in 
the  sense  of  one  who  addresses  an  Ecclesia  i.e.^  an 
assembly,  is  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Greek 
translator  of  the  book  to  render  the  Hebrew  word 
Koheleth  (pronounced  Ko-hay-leth),  which  is  the 
name  assumed  by  the  author  of  the  book,  and  the 
underlying  stem  of  which  means  to  "assemble." 
Since  the  author,  however,  wanted  us  to  regard 
Koheleth  as  a  proper  name,  why  translate  it  at  all  ? 
Ecclesiastes  is  a  harsh  and  forbidding  title  for  a 
book  that  is  marked  by  a  singular  lightness  of  touch, 
and  I  have  therefore  retained  throughout  this  work 
the  name  Koheleth  for  the  book,  and  have  chosen 
"A  Gentle  Cynic"  as  an  appropriate  designation 
to  describe  both  the  character  of  the  book  and 
the  author,  who  has  concealed  his  personality  be- 
hind a  nom  de  plume.  ^ 

^  See  p.  65. 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

The  book  is  not  only  intensely  human,  it  is  also 
remarkably  modern  in  its  spirit.  Koheleth  belongs 
to  the  small  coterie  of  books  that  do  not  grow  old. 
It  does  not  follow  that  such  books  are  to  be  placed 
among  the  great  classics  of  world  literature,  though 
in  some  instances  they  do  enjoy  this  distinction,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Book  of  Job  and  the  Quatrains 
of  Omar  Khayyam,  which  are  likewise  remarkably 
modern.  Nor  is  the  reverse  proposition  true  that 
all  the  great  classics  have  a  modern  flavor.  The 
spirit  of  Homer  is  that  of  antiquity,  whereas  that 
of  Horace  is  modern.  Moliere  is  intensely  human, 
but  because  he  reflects  so  exclusively  the  foibles  of 
his  days,  he  does  not  make  the  strong  appeal  to  the 
modern  world  as  does  Shakespeare,  who  is  human 
and  modern.  Of  two  authors  who  are  contempor- 
aneous, one  may  remain  modern  and  the  other 
not,  though  both  may  be  reckoned  among  the 
great.  Witness  Goethe  and  Schiller,  the  former 
speaking  to  the  present  age  in  a  way  that  the 
latter  does  not. 

Koheleth  is  modern,  because  with  great  literary 
skill  he  deals  with  those  aspects  of  human  life  which 
are  always  the  same.  He  is  almost  brutally  frank 
in  holding  the  mirror  up  to  life.  For  all  that,  he  is 
neither  a  scoffer  nor  a  pessimist.  He  loves  life  and 
has  intense  sympathy  with  the  struggles  and  suffer- 
ings of  humanity,  but  he  smiles  at  the  attempts  of 
zealous  reformers  to  change  human  nature  or  to 
improve  a  state  of  things,  which  (as  he  believes) 
follows  logically  from  the  conditions  under  which 


FOREWORD 

mankind  carves  out  its  career.  Koheleth  is  not  a 
cold  and  severely  logical  philosopher,  intent 
upon  building  up  a  system  of  thought,  but  an 
easy-going  dilettante  who  unfolds  in  a  series  of 
charming,  witty  and  loosely  connected  causeries 
his  view  of  life,  as  gained  by  a  long  and  varied 
experience. 

The  defects  of  his  attitude  towards  life  are  so 
apparent  that  they  need  hardly  be  pointed  out.  He 
does  not  pose  as  a  guide  to  be  followed,  nor  does  he 
help  us  in  solving  the  problems  of  life.  He  would 
be  willing  to  confess  that  he  has  no  solution,  because 
— and  this  is  perhaps  his  chief  defect — he  sees  no 
aim  in  life,  no  goal  towards  which  mankind  is 
tending.  Koheleth  is  serious  in  what  he  says, 
though  he  always  speaks  with  a  slight  ironical 
smile  on  his  lips,  but  he  does  not  want  us  to  take 
him  too  seriously,  just  as  he  himself  does  not  want 
to  take  life  too  seriously.  The  human  interest 
of  the  book  is  all  the  more  intense  because  of 
its  main  conclusion,  that  life  itself  is  a  paradox. 
Life  is  made  to  be  enjoyed,  and  yet  enjoyment 
is  "vanity." 

It  is  a  strange  book  to  have  slipped  into  a  sa- 
cred collection.  This  would  never  have  happened 
had  the  book  been  permitted  to  remain  in  the  form 
which  the  author  originally  gave  it.  Instead  of 
taking  Koheleth  as  he  was,  the  attempt  was  made 
by  those  who  did  not  approve  of  his  tone  and  of 
his  attitude  to  twist  his  thought  to  conform  to  the 
conventional  views  and  beliefs  of  the  age.  How  this 

9 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

was  done  will  be  set  forth  in  detail,  in  order  to 
justify  my  new  rendering  and  to  clear  up  the 
various  questions  raised  by  the  book.  The  bear- 
ings of  the  modifications  to  which  the  original  book 
of  Koheleth  was  subjected  on  its  character  as  a 
sacred  book  will  also  be  considered. 

For  the  book  in  its  present  form  is  the  result 
of  manipulation  at  various  hands  that  have  made 
additions  to  it  in  the  form  of  comments,  insertions 
and  counter  arguments  with  a  two-fold  purpose 
in  view,  to  make  the  utterances  in  the  book  con- 
form to  the  tradition  of  Solomon,  to  whom  an 
uncritical  age  ascribed  the  authorship,  and  to  make 
the  teachings  more  palatable  to  the  pious  and  con- 
servative, who  were  to  read  it  as  part  of  a  sacred 
collection.  The  result  has  been  to  produce  an 
entirely  different  book  from  the  one  which  the 
author  intended.  It  is  this  modified  Koheleth — 
practically  a  second  Koheleth  by  the  side  of  the 
first  one — that  has  found  a  place  in  the  sacred  col- 
lection. If  we  wish  to  get  back  to  the  real  Koheleth, 
we  must  lop  off  all  additions  made  to  it,  which  addi- 
tions constitute  over  one-fourth  of  the  present  book. 
This  I  have  done  in  the  translation,  with  an  indi- 
cation at  each  point  of  the  extraneous  material  and 
an  explanation  of  its  character  and  purpose. 

The  thought  of  the  book  as  it  stands  in  our 
Bible  translations  cannot  possibly  be  clear  to  the 
general  reader.  Those  who  manipulated  the  text 
of  the  original  Koheleth  in  order  to  convert  an 
unorthodox   production   into   an   unobjectionable 


FOREWORD 

one  succeeded  in  their  aim,  but  at  the  cost  of  intro- 
ducing contradictions  and  inconsistencies  of  which 
this  new  Koheleth  is  full.  If  we  can  imagine  Homer 
or  Virgil  published  with  the  scholia  of  later  com- 
mentators put  into  the  body  of  the  text,  or  the 
Quatrains  of  Omar  Khayyam  with  the  comments 
and  pious  reflections  of  orthodox  Mohamme- 
dans added,  as  though  forming  part  of  the 
original,  in  order  to  counteract  unorthodox  senti- 
ments about  "wine,  woman  and  song,"  one  will  be 
able  to  form  an  impression  of  the  text  as  finally 
fixed  and  as  it  now  stands  in  our  Bible.  At  the 
same  time,  while  recognizing  what  commentators 
in  the  interests  of  orthodoxy  have  made  of  Kohe- 
leth, we  must  not  fall  into  the  error  of  charging 
such  commentators  with  any  intention  to  practice 
a  wilful  deceit.  We  must  always  bear  in  mind  that 
every  production  in  an  age  which  had  not  as  yet 
developed  the  sense  of  individual  authorship  was 
subject  to  constant  modification.  Such  modifica- 
tion was  in  part  an  index  of  the  interest  that  a 
new  production  had  aroused.  An  ancient  book 
never  received  a  final  form,  so  long  as  its  message 
retained  its  vitality.  The  modifications  which  a 
piece  of  writing  underwent  might  be  made  by 
those  who  agreed  with  it,  or  by  those  who  were 
not  in  sympathy  with  it.  The  manipulators  of 
Koheleth  were  opposed  to  its  tone  and  thought, 
but  they  were  not  conscious  of  any  wrong  in 
furnishing  through  additions  their  answers  to 
Koheleth's  arguments  and  conclusions,  any  more 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

than  a  modern  editor  in  republishing  some  philo- 
sophical or  theological  treatise  would  be  con- 
scious of  guilt  in  adding  notes  to  controvert  the 
position  taken  by  the  author  whom  he  is  rein- 
troducing to  the  public.  The  separation  of  an 
editor's  observations  from  the  body  of  the  text, 
as  against  an  incorporation  of  comments  and 
super-comments  in  the  text  is  just  the  difference 
between  literary  production  in  an  age  in  which 
authorship  is  anonymous  or  collective,  and  one 
in  which  authorship  has  become  personal  and 
distinctive. 

In  my  restoration  of  the  original  text  on  the 
basis  of  my  own  researches,  I  have  also  availed 
myself  of  the  work  of  the  many  scholars,  who  have 
during  the  past  century  devoted  themselves  to 
the  study  of  the  book  with  the  application  of  the 
critical  and  historical  method  that  has  now  become 
the  universally  recognized  conditio  sine  qua  non 
for  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  both  the  Old  and 
the  New  Testament.  Those  who  are  interested  in 
questions  of  technical  detail,  may  be  referred  to 
Professor  George  A.  Barton's  "Critical  and  Ex- 
egetical  Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  " 
(New  York,  1908),  and  to  A.  H.  McNeile's  "Intro- 
duction to  Ecclesiastes"  (Cambridge,  1904),  two 
excellent  and  comprehensive  works. 

I  should  like  also  to  mention  especially  the 
valuable  textual  and  critical  notes  to  Koheleth  by 
Arnold  B.  Ehrlich,  many  of  whose  corrections  and 
interpretations  I  have  adopted.     These  notes  will 


FOREWORD 

be  found  in  a  monumental  work,  indispensable  to 
the  specialist,  under  the  title  "Randglossen  zur 
Hebraischen  Bibel"  (Leipzig,  1908-14),  in  seven 
volumes,  covering  all  the  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  embodying  the  results  of  a  life-long 
study  of  the  Bible  by  this  remarkably  keen  scholar. 
My  own  book  being  intended  for  the  general  reader, 
I  have  avoided  technical  discussions  and  unnec- 
essary references. 

With  those  who  are  still  able  to  approach  the 
Bible  with  a  naive  faith  in  its  literal  inspiration  I 
have  no  quarrel,  but  for  those  who  are  unable  to  do 
so — and  they  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  educated 
public — the  books  of  the  Bible  need  to  be  rein- 
terpreted in  the  light  of  modern  researches,  which, 
it  should  be  made  clear  affect  our  beliefs  about  the 
Bible,  but  not  belief  in  the  Bible.  The  primary 
motive  which  impels  me  to  make  the  effort  to  so 
reinterpret  one  of  the  most  striking  and  one  of  the 
most  charming  books  in  the  collection  is  the  desire 
to  make  a  contribution — however  modest — to- 
wards securing  for  the  general  public  the  positive 
gains  of  the  new  epoch  for  Biblical  studies  which 
set  in  with  the  discovery,  made  by  a  French  phy- 
sician, Jean  Astruc,^  that  the  Pentateuch,  until 
then  accepted  by  tradition  as  the  work  in  toto  of 
one  author — Moses — consisted  of  several  docu- 
ments, each  of  independent  origin,  which  had  been 
pieced  together.  The  discovery  seemed  quite  inno- 

^  The  title  of  Astruc's  work  is  "  Conjectures  sur  les  memoires  originaux 
dont  il  parait  que  Moyse  s'est  servi  pour  composer  le  livre  de  la  Genese." 
(Brussels,  1753.) 

13 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

cent  on  the  surface,  particularly  as  Astruc  made 
the  concession  to  a  time-honored  belief  by  still 
assuming  Moses  to  have  been  the  one  who  welded 
the  documents  into  a  literary  unity.  But  the 
change  from  Moses  as  the  one  to  whom  the  entire 
Pentateuch  had  been  revealed,  to  Moses  as  a  mere 
compiler  of  documents  that  had  been  produced  by 
others — and  by  human  hands  at  that — aimed  a 
blow  at  tradition,  the  fatal  character  of  which 
could  not  be  concealed  by  any  appearance  of  com- 
promise. 

Oest  le  premier  pas  qui  coute.  A  new  method 
of  approach  to  the  study  of  the  sacred  collection 
had  been  inaugurated.  This  method,  modified  and 
perfected  by  successive  generations  of  scholars, 
chiefly  in  Germany,  France,  Holland  and  England 
and  applied  to  all  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  led  inevitably  to  the  substitution  of 
historical  criticism  in  place  of  a  naive  and  uncritical 
tradition  that  had  in  the  course  of  time  grown  up 
around  the  Bible.  The  result  has  been  to  give 
a  historical  setting  to  the  unfolding  of  religious 
thought  among  the  Hebrews  from  primitive  be- 
liefs which  at  one  time  they  shared  with  their 
fellow  Semites,  to  the  advanced  conception  of  a 
spiritual  Power  of  universal  scope  as  the  single 
source  of  all  phenomena  in  nature  and  as  control- 
ing  the  destinies  of  the  human  race.  In  keeping 
with  this,  the  religious,  social  and  political  institu- 
tions of  the  Hebrews  have  been  shown  to  follow 
an  order  of  development  that  carried  us  still  fur- 

14 


FOREWORD 

ther  from  the  traditional  view  of  the  course  taken 
by  Hebrew  history.  The  religious  movement  in- 
augurated by  the  prophets  of  the  ninth  century 
and  culminating  in  Judaism  has  been  placed  by 
the  critical  method  in  its  proper  light.  We  can 
now  trace  the  religion  of  the  Hebrews  from  the  cir- 
cumscribed Yahwism  of  the  Mosaic  age  to  the  eth- 
ical monotheism  of  the  post-exilic  period,  which 
begins  at  the  close  of  the  sixth  century  b.c. 

But  this  historical  and  critical  method  has 
in  turn  entailed  a  complete  recasting  of  our  views 
as  to  the  origin,  date  and  method  of  composition 
of  the  books  of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament. 
So  thoroughly  has  this  work  been  done  that  at  the 
present  time  the  results  of  the  critical  study  of  the 
Old  Testament^  are  accepted  by  all  scholars  who 
are  willing  to  apply  to  a  sacred  collection  the  same 
method  that  holds  good  for  secular  literature.  The 
storm  which  raged  several  decades  ago  over  the 
"Higher  Criticism"  has  subsided,  though  occasion- 
ally distant  echoes  of  thunder  can  still  be  heard, 
and  faint  streaks  of  lightning  still  flash  from  pulpits 
and  from  the  halls  of  religious  conventions.  The 
general  public  also  knows  of  these  results  and 
either  is  indifferent  to  them  or  accepts  them  with 
the  realization  that  this  acceptance  does  not  in- 
volve hostility  to  religious  faith,  as  is  stupidly 
maintained  by  those  who  denounce  the  "critics" 
without   understanding   them.      For   all   that,  in 

3  For  an  admirable  and  brief  survey  of  the  results  of  t^e  modern 
critical  method,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Professor  G.  B.  Gray's  "Critical 
Introduction  to  the  0.  T."    (London,  1913.) 

IS 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

popular  writings  and  even  in  learned  works,  un- 
less the  author  happens  to  be  a  specialist  in 
Oriental  scholarship,  the  positive  gains  of  the  new 
method  find  scant  recognition.  When  Hebrew  his- 
tory is  referred  to,  the  traditional  view  is  just  as 
apt  to  be  brought  forward  as  the  new  setting  for 
that  history,  secured  through  the  labors  of  modern 
scholars.  Biblical  characters  are  referred  to  in 
popular  writings  with  little  attempt  to  distinguish 
between  creations  of  myth,  folk-lore  or  priestly 
tradition  like  Samson,  Isaac  and  Aaron,  and  genu- 
ine historical  personages  like  Moses,  Gideon, 
Samuel  and  Saul;  and  in  the  case  of  such  historical 
personages,  probable  facts  are  not  separated  from 
legendary  accretions.  The  Pentateuch  is  still  com- 
monly spoken  of  in  pulpits  as  though  it  dated  from 
the  days  of  Moses.  Psalms  are  still  commonly 
associated  with  David,  though  the  Psalms  repre- 
sent the  Hymn  Book  of  the  Jewish  community  in 
the  post-exilic  days,  and  Proverbs,  Song  of  Songs 
and  Ecclesiastes  are  ascribed  to  Solomon,  though 
none  of  these  works  originated  till  many  centuries 
after  the  death  of  the  monarch  who  was  himself 
idealized — as  was  also  David — by  legend  and  tra- 
dition into  a  figure  bearing  only  a  slight  relation  to 
the  real  Solomon. 

Now  all  this  would  perhaps  be  of  minor  con- 
sideration if  it  did  not  actually  prevent  an  intel- 
ligent approach  to  the  books  of  the  Old  and  the 
New  Testament  on  the  part  of  those  who  can  no 
longer  read  the  Bible  with  that  simple  faith  in  the 

i6 


FOREWORD 

tradition  that  grew  up  around  the  Bible,  and  that 
protected  their  great-grandfathers  and  great- 
grandmothers  from  seeing  the  difficulties  which 
the  modern  reader  encounters.  From  whatever 
point  of  view  we  regard  the  Bible — whether  from 
the  angle  of  religion  or  of  literature  or  of  history — 
the  collection  is  too  valuable  to  be  exposed  to  the 
risk  of  being  either  lost  or  misunderstood;  and  un- 
less the  books  of  the  Bible  are  understood,  they 
are  practically  lost  to  readers  imbued  with  the 
modern  spirit. 

In  presenting  Koheleth  in  a  new  garb,  minus 
the  trimmings  which  were  attached  to  the  original 
composition,  it  is  my  hope  to  make  a  remarkable 
literary  production  more  intelligible  than  is  possible 
by  reading  it  in  any  of  our  present-day  translations 
of  the  Old  Testament,  which  are  all  modeled  on 
the  classic  "authorized"  version  of  1611,  and  which 
all  assume  the  book  to  be  a  literar}^  unit  in  its 
present  form.  In  other  words,  I  have  tried  to  give 
the  reader  the  book  of  Koheleth  in  its  original  form, 
as  nearly  as  that  is  at  present  possible;  and  it  is 
only  fair  to  add  that,  in  order  to  do  so,  it  has  been 
necessary  to  correct  the  text  in  places  where  in  the 
course  of  being  copied  by  one  scribe  after  the  other 
it  has  manifestly  become  corrupt.  The  total  number 
of  such  corrections,  however,  is  not  excessively 
large. 

In  the  translation,  I  have  disregarded  the 
ordinary  division  into  chapters  which  is  very  late 
and  not  found  in  ancient  manuscripts  of  Biblical 
2  17 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

books,  and,  instead,  have  divided  the  "Words  of 
Koheleth,"  as  the  attached  title  reads,  into  twenty- 
four  sections,  each  dealing  with  some  phase  of  the 
general  problem  with  which  the  author  is  concerned. 
For  the  sake  of  convenience,  I  have  added 
on  the  margin  the  corresponding  chapter  and 
verses  in  our  ordinary  Bibles,  so  that  those  who 
so  desire  may  compare  my  rendering  with  the  "au- 
thorized" version  and  its  successors.  I  have  felt 
entirely  free  to  choose  my  own  wording,  with  no 
sense  of  being  bound  by  the  "authorized"  version, 
which  as  a  classic  of  English  literature  will,  of 
course,  always  retain  its  place,  but  which,  as  a 
translation  of  a  text  better  understood  after  a  lapse 
of  three  hundred  years,  can  be  improved  upon  on 
almost  every  page.  Where  I  deviate  in  more  than  a 
mere  choice  of  words  from  the  generally  accepted 
rendering  of  a  passage,  I  have  tried  to  justify  my 
view  in  the  brief  notes  attached  to  the  translation. 
Slight  and  obviously  necessary  textual  changes  I 
have  passed  over  in  silence;  more  radical  ones 
I  have  briefly  commented  on  in  the  notes.  These 
notes  are  not  in  any  sense  technical,  and  have 
therefore  been  made  as  brief  and  as  simple  as  pos- 
sible, just  enough  to  enable  the  reader  to  follow 
the  interpretation  of  the  book  according  to  my 
understanding  of  it.  All  the  additions  to  the  text 
will  also  be  found  in  these  notes;  and  for  further 
convenience  I  have  grouped  all  the  additions  in 
the  Appendix  under  three  divisions.  In  this  way 
the  reader,  with  the  further  assistance  of  the  dis- 

i8 


FOREWORD 

cussion  preceding  the  translation,  will  be  able  to 
see  for  himself  just  how  the  book  was  manipulated, 
the  nature  and  purpose  of  the  additions  made, 
how  its  original  thought  was  obscured  or  given  a 
different  turn,  and  how  it  gradually  grew  until  it 
received  the  shape  that  it  has  in  the  usual  trans- 
lations of  the  Bible. 

I  feel  that  no  apology  is  needed  for  the  length 
of  this  discussion,  which  is,  as  already  suggested, 
an  attempt  to  give  to  the  general  public  some  of 
the  positive  gains  of  the  critical  study  of  the  Old 
Testament,  as  carried  on  by  many  scholars  in  many 
lands  during  the  past  century.  The  recognition  of 
these  gains  will,  I  firmly  believe,  help  to  remove 
the  misunderstandings  still  current  regarding  the 
nature  and  purpose  of  the  historical,  literary  and 
critical  study  of  the  Bible.  I  beg  to  call  special  at- 
tention to  the  sections^  in  which  I  have  discussed 
some  of  the  aspects  of  the  relation  of  criticism 
to  tradition,  and  where  I  have  tried  to  show  that  in 
rejecting  traditional  views  about  the  Biblical  books 
— affecting  their  origin,  date  and  manner  of  com- 
position— there  is  more  than  a  compensating  gain 
in  bringing  us  nearer  to  an  intelligent  appreciation 
of  the  contents  of  these  books  and — I  venture 
to  add — of  their  real  value.  The  religious  truths 
embodied  in  the  Biblical  books  are  independent 
of  questions  of  text,  origin  and  composition,  with 
which  alone  historical  and  literary  criticism  is 
concerned. 

^  XIII  to  XVI. 

19 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Those  who  take  the  trouble  of  reading  the 
results  of  my  investigations  will,  I  venture  to  think, 
find  all  the  other  important  questions  raised  by  the 
book,  its  thought  and  its  aim,  and  its  relationship 
to  the  beliefs  of  the  age  in  which  it  was  written,  to 
Greek  ideas  and  to  Jewish  orthodoxy,  fully  covered, 
and  in  such  a  way  as  to  illuminate  the  "Words  of 
Koheleth"  as  a  human  document.  In  order  to  un- 
derstand an  ancient  book,  we  must  make  the  attempt 
to  get  a  picture  in  our  minds  of  the  time  and  the 
conditions  under  which  it  was  written.  That  aim 
has  been  before  me  above  all  else,  and  I  shall  be 
happy  if  I  shall  have  succeeded  in  making  Koheleth 
a  living  book  to  the  modern  reader.  It  is  my  hope 
and  intention  to  treat  in  the  same  way  two  other 
Biblical  books,  the  Book  of  Job  and  the  Song  of 
Songs,  which,  like  Koheleth,  need  to  be  reinter- 
preted, by  means  of  a  utilization  of  the  results  of  a 
critical  study  of  them,  in  order  that  they  may  make 
their  appeal  to  our  age. 

In  committing  my  interpretation  of  the  "Gen- 
tle Cynic"  to  the  tender  mercies  of  (I  hope)  an 
equally  gentle  reader,  I  feel  assured  that  he  will 
become  as  fondly  attached  to  Koheleth — even 
though,  perhaps,  not  approving  of  all  his  teachings 
and  utterances — as  I  have  grown.  It  remains  for 
me  to  express  my  obligations,  as  in  the  case  of  all 
my  writings,  to  my  wife  for  the  help  received  from 
her  in  the  form  of  suggested  improvements  in  the 
presentation  of  my  results  and  in  the  translation 
itself.   She  has  also,  as  usual,  read  a  proof.    To  her 


FOREWORD 

direct  aid  as  well  as  to  her  sympathy  with  all  my 
work  and  to  her  encouragement  to  carry  it  on,  I 
owe  any  merits  that  I  may  have  achieved  in  the 
course  of  my  life.  It  is  both  a  pleasure  and  a  privi- 
lege to  combine  on  the  dedication  page  the  names  of 
three  dear  colleagues  who  are  associated  in  my 
mind  together,  to  whose  firm  friendship  and  stim- 
ulating companionship,  I  owe  much — very  much. 

MORRIS  JASTROW,  Jr. 

University  of  Pennsylvania 
January,  1919 


CONTENTS 

Foreword 7 

The   Origin,  Growth  and  Interpretation  of  the 
Words  of  Koheleth: 

A  Strange  Book  in  a  Sacred  Canon 27 

Before  the  Days  of  "Authorship  " 31 

Beginnings   of    Literary   Compilation   among   the 

Hebrews 42 

A  New  Religion  and  Its  Reflex  in  Literature 45 

The  First  Genuine  "Authors" 48 

Traditional  "Authorship" 52 

The  Growth  of  the  Sacred  Collection 56 

Koheleth  as  a  Nom  de  Plume 62 

The  Additions  to  Koheleth 71 

The  Proverbs  Appended  to  Koheleth 76 

The  Popularity  of  Koheleth 86 

Apologizing  for  Koheleth 94 

Two  Questions  Regarding  Koheleth loi 

Belief  in  the  Bible  Not  Affected  by  Historical  and 

Literary  Criticism 108 

The  Old  Testament  Canon  as  a  Mirror  of  Various 

Aspects  of  Life 113 

The  Original  versus  the  Modified  Koheleth 116 

Koheleth  and  His  "Philosophy  of  Life" 120 

Ancient  and  Later  Beliefs  Regarding  the  Dead.  . .  .  129 

A  Gentle  Cynic 138 

Koheleth  and  Greek  Thought 147 

Koheleth's  Attitude  towards  the  Cult 152 

Koheleth  on  "Reform,"  Royalty,  and  Woman 156 


coNrENrs 

"Work  and  Play" 164 

Joy  that  Is  Sane 171 

Koheleth    and  the    Conventional  Beliefs    of    His 

Age 178 

The  Omar  Khayyam  of  the  Bible 186 

The  Words  of  Koheleth  in  Their  Original  Form, 
Stripped     of     Subsequent     Interpolations, 

Sayings  and  Comments 199 

Appendix,  Containing  the  Additions  to  the  Book.  245 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

THE  ORIGIN,  GROWTH  AND 

INTERPRE'TAnON   OF   THE 

WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 


a  (Btnilt  Cpntc 

I 

A  STRANGE  BOOK  IN  A  SACRED  CANON 

kT  the  close  of  the  Book  of 
Koheleth  some  reader  or  com- 
mentator has  added  the  warn- 
ing, "Beware,  my  son,  of  the 
writing  of  many  books  without 
end,"  as  though  to  caution  us 
against  taking  too  seriously 
the  teachings  of  a  book,  which 
seemed  dangerous  from  the  point  of  view  of  con- 
ventional morality.  The  warning  sounds  a  chal- 
lenge to  every  writer  to  justify  himself  in  adding 
another  to  the  more  than  three  million  books  that 
have  been  produced  since  the  literary  impulse — 
Koheleth  would  call  it  "a  sorry  business" — first 
seized  hold  of  man  on  this  little  planet  of  ours. 
Koheleth  himself  would,  no  doubt,  echo  the  sug- 
gestion contained  in  the  warning  that  books  fol- 
low one  another  in  endless  succession,  because  it 
is  a  part  of  the  "nature  of  the  beast."  Man 
writes  because  he  cannot  help  it.  The  point  is  not 
zvhat  man  writes,  but  that  he  writes  and  that  he  goes 
on  writing  as  naturally  as  he  goes  on  living,  though 
Koheleth  well  knows  that  both  man's  life  and  his 
book  will  come  to  an  end. 

There  is  no  final  book  on   any  subject — no 
27 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

last  word.  Why,  then,  add  another  to  share  the 
fate  of  gathering  dust  on  the  shelves  of  libraries 
or  of  being  ground  to  pulp  to  form  the  material 
for  some  successor?  Why  write  if  a  book  is  to  be 
produced,  only  to  be  oifered  up  as  a  sacrifice  to 
bring  into  existence  the  next  one,  a  process  which 
gives  to  bookmaking  some  of  the  aspects  of  canni- 
balism? But  the  warning  against  the  making  of 
endless  books  comes  with  special  force,  if  the  book 
in  question  is  to  be  a  new  translation  of  an  ancient 
one.  Why  present  a  book  writtQnjazer  2100  years 
ago,  in  a  new  garb?  Is  not  Koheleth  included 
in  every  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  that  has 
appeared  since  the  days  of  Wycliffe  and  Luther? 
Are  there  not  enough  commentaries  on  this  book 
in  every  modern  language?^  The  justification  is  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  Koheleth  was  admitted 
by  a  strange  fate  into  a  collection  of  sacred  writ- 
ings. The  author  had  been  dead  for  several  cen- 
turies before  his  production  was  thus  canonized, 
or  he  would  first  have  smiled  at  finding  himself  in 
company  with  prophets  and  psalmists,  and  then 
after  a  closer  inspection,  upon  seeing  how  his 
work  had  been  altered  in  order  to  adapt  it  to  a 
group  to  which  it  did  not  belong,  he  might  have 
grown  indignant.  At  all  events,  he  would  have  had 
difficulty  in  recognizing  his  offspring. 

*  A  long  list  of  commentaries  and  monographs  on  Ecclesiastes  will  be 
found  in  Professor  G.  A.  Barton's  "Critical  and  Exegetical  Commentary" 
on  the  "Book  of  Ecclesiastes"  (N.  Y.,  1908)  pp.  18-31,  in  McNeile's  "Intro- 
duction to  Ecclesiastes"  (Cambridge,  1904)  p.  55,  and  in  Ludwig  Levy's 
"Das  Buch  Qoheleth"  (Leipzig,  191 2)  pp.  65-67. 

28 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

The  privilege  of  being  included  in  a  sacred 
collection  turned  out  to  be  a  misfortune  for  the 
book,  for  it  led  to  its  being  totally  misunderstood, 
or,  rather,  intentionally  modified  so  as  to  conceal 
its  real  purport.  Koheleth  is  in  reality,  as  we  shall 
see,  a  most  unorthodgg^production.  Its  teachings 
run  counter  to  the  conventional  beliefs  of  the  times 
in  which  it  was  composed.  It  offended  the  pious 
by  its  bold  skepticism  and  displeased  those  who 
believed  in  a  Creator  who  stamped  his  handiwork 
with  the  verdict  "And  behold  it  was  good,"  by 
its  undisguised,  albeit  gentle  cynicism.  Critical 
scholarship,  as  the  result  of  the  combined  activity 
of  many  scholars  of  many  lands  during  the  past 
century,  now  recognizes  that  the  book,  as  it  stands 
in  our  Bible,  consists  of  a  kernel  to  which  liberal 
additions  have  been  made.  These  additions  which 
were  introduced,  as  we  shall  see,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  counteracting  the  effect  of  Koheleth 's 
unconventional  views  and  to  give  a  more  orthodox 
turn  to  his  thought  are  to  be  found  in  each  one  of 
the  twelve  chapters  into  which  the  book  was  arbi- 
trarily divided.*^  In  some  chapters,  the  additions 
consist  merely  of  a  phrase  or  of  a  sentence  skill- 
fully inserted  here  and  there  at  a  critical  point  in 
the  discussion;  in  others,  as  in  the  eighth  chapter, 
the  additions  are  almost  equal  to  the  original  sec- 

*  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  division  into  chapters  in  our  Bible 
is  late  and  does  not  occur  in  ancient  manuscripts  of  the  Hebrew  text.  In  my 
translation  (see  the  foreword,  page  17),  I  have  discarded  these  divisions,  and 
instead  have  divided  the  book  into  24  sections,  each  one  dealing  with  some 
aspect  of  the  general  theme. 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

tion,  while  again  in  some,  as  in  the  seventh  and 
tenth  chapters,  the  supplementary  material  is  in 
excess  of  the  original  portion  of  the  chapter.' 
Besides  these  conspicuous  additions,  amounting  in 
all  to  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  book,  there  are 
little  glosses  and  comments  of  a  miscellaneous 
character,  likewise  interspersed  throughout,  which 
correspond  to  our  foot-notes  to  a  text.  Now  it  is 
manifestly  impossible  to  obtain  a  view  of  what 
the  book  was  in  its  original  form,  unless  in  a  trans- 
lation we  lop  off  all  additions  and  insertions,  as 
well  as  the  glosses  and  little  comments.  To  trans- 
late the  book  as  it  stands,  as  has  hitherto  been 
done,  precludes  the  possibility  of  grasping  the 
character  that  the  author  intended  to  give  to  his 
production. 

The  acceptance  of  Koheleth  into  the  Canon 
was  a  gradual  process.  W£.kiLaw.thata&iate_as  the 
first  century  before  this  era  it,wa5.  not.gerierairy 
regafHed  as  on  a  "par  with  the  books  of  the  colFec- 
tlon  of  ancient  Hebrew  literature,  which  had  to  be 
handled  with  special  reverence.  Even  then  it 
would  never  have  been  admitted  among  sacred 
writings  by  the  council  of  learned  and  pious  Jews, 
who  at  Jamnia  in  Palestine  fixed  the  Canon  at  the 
end  of  the  first._century  of  our  era^  had  it  not  been 
for  the  additions  which  toned  down  the  skeptical 
tenor  of  its  teachings  and  controverted  its  bold 
defiance  of  accepted  beliefs.  The  circumstance  that 
the  authorship  was  attributed  to  SolaHw^iftwas  a 

'  See  for  details  below  pp.  71-86,  and  in  the  comments  to  the  translations. 
30 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

vital  factor  in  leading  to  its  inclusion  in  the  Canon, 
but  even  this  would  not  have  secured  its  admission 
without  the  additions  which  constitute  such  a 
considerable  part  of  the  work  in  its  present  form, 
and  which  made  it  practically  a  different  kind  of 
a  book.  The  question  arises,  how  were  these 
additions  made,  or,  rather,  first  of  all,  how  was  it 
possible  for  anyone  to  conceive  of  making  them? 

II 
BEFORE  THE  DAYS  OF  "AUTHORSHIP" 

To  us  who  are  accustomed  to  think  of  a  book 
as  the  work  of  a  single  individual,  brought  out 
with  the  seal  of  authenticity  attached  to  it  linder 
the  name  of  its  author,  it  must  indeed  seem  strange 
that  the  original  form  of  a  piece  of  writing  should 
be  altered  by  subsequent  additions;  but  author- 
ship in  the  modern  sense  was  unknown  in  antiq- 
joity  until  we  reach  the  flourishing  period  of  Greek 
literature.  Up  to  that  time,  authorship  was  largely 
anonymous.  A  book  might  pass  through  many 
hands  before  receiving  its  final  form;  and  in  this 
form,  two  features  which  we  naturally  associate 
with  a  book,  aiji  author  and  a  title,  are  conspicuous^^ 
by  their  absence.  Book  writing  was  in  the  literal 
sense  of  ihovToxSi  corn-position,  that  is,  a  putting  to- 
gether of  documents  whi'ch  might  date  from  various 
periods.  A  book  Involved  a  process  of  compilation 
in  which  various  persons  might  take  part.  As  a  con- 
sequence, we  have  collective  instead  of  individual 
authorship.    A  writer  In  the  days  of  anonymous 

31 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

authorship  laid  no  claim  to  special  ownership  to 
what  he  wrote — could  lay  no  such  claim.  Every- 
one who  could  do  so  felt  free  to  add  to  a  manuscript 
that  came  into  his  hands.  The  person  who  wrote 
was  of  minor  significance  as  against  what  he  wrote, 
and  if  a  piece  of  writing  became  popular  by  being  cir- 
culated within  a  certain  circle,  it  was  destined  to  con- 
tinual enlargement  and  modification.  Indeed,  this 
steady  modification  was  an  index  of  the  popularity 
of  a  book.  A  book  that  had  become  definite  in  its 
form  and  that  was  no  longer  subject  to  change,  was 
a  4^q4  bO£^!s  '^tl^  living  book,  which  conveyed  a 
message  of  real  import  to  tliose  who  became 
acquainted  with  it,  was  one  which  had  not  yet 
become  static.  What  we  should  regard  as  taking 
an  unwarranted  liberty  with  an  author  by  changing 
what  he  had  written,  was  from  the  ancient  point  of 
view  not  only  perfectly  legitimate  but  a  real  compli- 
ment to  a  book,  an  indication  that  It  was  a  breath- 
ing organism  and  not  a  lifeless  corpse.  A  book, 
moreover,  continued  to  grow  as  long  as  it  aroused 
sufficient  interest  to  be  added  to  and  to  be  other- 
wise modified.  From  the  modern  point  of  view%  a 
book  is  finished  when  the  author  puts  his  finis  to  It. 
The  finished  book  begins  its  life — short  or  long — 
when  it  is  issued  from  the  press.  From  the  ancient 
point  of  view  the  publication  of  a  book  in  its  final 
and  definite  form  spelled  its  death — the  end  of  the 
era  which  led  to  its  production. 

As  for  a  title,  in  the  days  when  writing  was 
merely  com-positlon,  there  was  no  occasion  to  give  a 

32 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

name  to  a  production  which,  as  essentially  a  com- 
pilation, lacked  any  individualistic  character.  A 
title  goes  with  individual  authorship.  A  writeT^ 
having  a  definite  subject  in  mind,  will  hit  upon  the 
idea,  after  having  developed  his  subject  systemat- 
ically from  beginning  to  end,  of  giving  his  produc- 
tion a  name,  just  as  an  artist  will  be  led  to  label  a 
picture  representing  the  execution  of  a  plan  formed 
and  carried  out;  but  when  there  is  no  author  in 
this  sense,  no  single  individual  who  plans  a  book 
as  a  whole  and  gives  it  its  final  shape,  there  is  no 
unity  to  a  literary  work  thus  produced.  Hence  in 
ancient  days  books  had  no  title,  because  they 
lacked  the  unity  which  would  suggest  the  desira- 
bility of  giving  to  a  literary  product  a  distinctive 
designation.  In  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  for  example, 
where  books  were  written  on  clay  tablets,  the  tab- 
lets were  numbered  in  succession  and  distinguished 
merely  as  "Tablet  i,"  "Tablet  2,"  etc.,  of  a  series 
described  by  the  word  or  phrase  with  which  the 
first  tablet  began.  As  a  trace  of  this  ancient  custom, 
£ap±iLBulls  are  still  known  from  the  opening  words 
i^the  document.  Similarly,  in  the  first  division  of 
the  Old  Testament,  consisting  of  the  five  books 
forming  the  Pentateuch,  the  individual  books  have 
in  Hebrew  no  title  and  are  merely  described  by  the 
opening  word.  So,  for  example.  Genesis,  which  is 
the  Greek  translation  of  the  Hebrew  Ber^shith. 
'l&e^^^ng/L.  with  which  the  book  opens.  In 
English  usage  we  call  the  second  book  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch, "Exodus"  which  is  a  title  descriptive  of 
3  33 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

the  contents  of  the  book,  but  this  title  was  given 
to  it  by  the  Greek  translator.  In  Hebrew  the  book 
is  designated  as  Shemoth,  meaning  "  Names, "  which 
happens  to  be  the  opening  word  of  the  book.^  The 
remaining  three  books  are  likewise  known  in  He- 
brew merely  by  the  opening  word;  and  even  a 
book  like  Lamentations,  written  in  the  Post-Exilic 
period,  is  in  Hebrew  designated  as  Echah,  meaning 
"Alas!",  because  it  begins  with  that  word. 

'■■  If  in  the  Hebrew  text  other  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  as  the  historical  ones  belonging  to  the 
second  division,Judges,  Kings,  and  Samuel,  bear  dis- 
tinctive names,  and  if  names  like  Psalms  and  Pro- 
verbs in  the  third  division  describe  the  contents  of 
these  books,  it  is  because  such  designations  are  a  re- 
flex of  the  later  period  when  the  idea  of  authorship 
was  beginning  to  make  its  way  into  the  life  of  the 
Hebrews.  With  this  advance  comes  the  thought 
of  giving  a  more  definite  designation  to  a  literary 
production. 

In  the  early  period,  however,  the  author  was 
a  negligible  quantity,  and  necessarily  so  in  an  age 
Whldl  had  llUl  yeT"3eveloped  a  sense  of  personal 
proprietorship  in  the  written  word.  What  a  man 
said  at  that  early  period  had  far  greater  import 
and  authority  than  what  he  wrote.  Verbal  utter- 
ances were  scrupulously  handed  down  in  ancient 
times  by  oral  tradition.    The  decisions  of  a  judge, 


*  Strictly  speaking  it  is  the  second  word,  the  first  being  the  demon- 
strative particle  "These,"  which  was  not  distinctive  enough  to  serve  as  a 
designation. 

34 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  declarations  of  a  political  or  military  leader, 
the  instructions  of  a  teacher,  the  warnings  of  a 
prophet,  the  prayers  of  a  religious  poet,  were  trans- 
mitted by  word  of  mouth  with  punctilious  regard 
to  their  authenticity,  but  when  an  individual  sank 
to  the  grade  of  a  mere  writer,  his  product  became 
common  property  to  be  bandied  about  freely 
and  without  any  concern  for  the  vanity  of  the 
author  who,  in  fact,  was  not  recognized  as  having 
any  prerogatives  at  all.  A  book  was  not  a  man's 
child  to  be  guarded  and  petted  by  him  as  his 
very  own,  but  a  stray  waif  belonging  to  no  one 
in  particular.  All  ancient  languages  have  a  word 
(or  several  terms)  for  speaker,  orator,  teacher,  but 
many  have  no  distinctive  expression,  correspond- 
ing to  our  term  '' author. "  In  Hebrew  e.g.  there  is 
no  such  term;  there  isi'merely  a  word  for  writer 
(sofer),  and  the  writer  is  primarily  a  scribe.  The 
s5fer  writes,  but  whether  what  he  writes  is  a  copy 
from  some  model  or  something  dictated  to  him,  or 
some  composition  of  his  own  is  immaterial.  He  is 
merely  a  medium  and  no  more  important  than  the 
stylus  with  which  he  writes,  or  the  clay,  skin  or 
leaf  upon  which  he  writes. 

Authorship  under  these  circumstances  was 
necessarily  and  logically  anonymous;  and  it  is  not 
accidental  that  the  most  ancient  literary  produc- 
tions in  all  lands  have  come  down  to  us  without 
the  authentic  preservation  of  the  names  of  their 
authors.  The..entire,  Babylonian  litexaJairei^  anon- 
ymous.  There  are  plenty  of  names  of  copyists  an? 

35 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

scribes  mentioned  on  the  clay  tablets,  but  no 
author;  and  if  in  Egyptian  literature  we  occasion- 
ally come  across  the  name  of  a  person  who  writes 
an  account  of  his  travels,  it  is  due  to  the  accidental 
personal  form  which  what  he  writes  takes  on.  No 
one  would  think  of  him  for  that  reason  as  an 
author.  The  hymns  of  the  Rig  Veda — the  oldest  of 
the  literary  productions  of  India — are  all  anonynious. 
Folk  tales  and  folk  songs,  incantations,  as  well  as 
prayers  and  hymns  forming  part  of  a  ritual  were  in 
ancient  times  always  anonymous.  Even  long  after 
authorship  had  been  definitely  established  as  a 
factor  in  the  literary  life  of  a  people,  aye  centuries 
thereafter,  collections  of  fables  and  the  entire 
field  of  story-telling  in  the  East — witness  the 
Arabian  Nights — were  anonymous  productions. 

In  Western  literature  the  Miracle  and  Moral- 
ity plays  are  instances  of  collective  and  anonymous 
authorship,  surviving  to  the  Middle  Ages  and 
beyond.  The  "Passion  Play"  of  Oberammergau, 
which  still  has  the  powerto  attract  tens  oi  thou- 
sands from  all  parts  of  the  world  whenever  it  is  pro- 
duced in  the  charming  Tyrolean  surroundings, 
falls  in  the  same  category.  It  h^ff  ^^  ^Hfh^r  and 
belongs  to  the  age  of  "collective"  literary  pro- 
duction, as  do  the  various  "Kasperl"  plays  which 
in  the  form  of  "Punch  and  Judy"  shows  still 
amuse  the  children  of  the  present  age.  The  drama, 
in  fact,  as  late  as  the  days  of  Shakespeare  had  not 
entirely  emerged  from  this  period  of  collective 
authorship;  for  Shakespeare  begins  his  career  by 

36 


A  GENriE   CTNIC 

reshaping  old  plays  to  which  his  name  becomes 
attached,  although  he  is  not  in  any  individualistic 
sense  their  author,  and  it  is  impossible  even  for 
specialists  in  the  study  of  the  great  dramatist  to 
differentiate  with  certainty  the  older  portions  of 
such  a  play  as,  for  example,  "King  Henry  VI" 
and  the  parts  which  are  due  to  Shakespeare.  One 
is  tempted  to  suggest  that  the  persistence  of  the 
"tradition"  of  collective  authorship  in  the  drama 
may  be  a  factor  in  accounting  for  the  strange  phe- 
nomenon that  in  the  case  of  Shakespeare,  living  in 
the  full  daylight  of  history,  a  doubt  as  to  the  au- 
thenticity of  his  productions  should  have  arisen — 
absurd  though  both  the  theories  and  the  methods 
of  the  "Baconians"  are. 

As  a  survival  of  past  conditions  we  have  even 
in  our  days  a  good  deal  of  anonymous  authorship 
or,  as  we  might  also  put  it,  collective  authorship. 
Every  proverb  must  have  originated  with  some 
individual,  but  except  in  the  case  of  quotations 
from  some  published  work,  collections  of  proverbs 
pass  down  the  ages  as  anonymous.  A  modern 
newspaper  furnishes  a  good  illustration  of  the 
manner  of  book-making  in  antiquity.  It  is  the 
work  of  many  hands  and  it  is  issued  anonymously. 
Editors  and  managers  are  not  the  authors,  but 
merely  the  mediums  of  publication,  just  like  the 
ancient  scribes.  The  reporter  when  he  puts  his 
items  into  shape  sinks  his  personality  into  the 
general  anonymity  that  marks  a  newspaper;  his 
work  is  modified  by  the  city  editor,  precisely  as  a 

37 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

production  In  ancient  times  underwent  modifica- 
tion by  other  hands  than  the  one  which  gave  it 
its  original  form.  Even  writers  of  editorials,  in 
which  it  might  be  supposed  the  personal  touch 
was  essential,  consciously  or  unconsciously  fall 
into  the  general  tone  adopted  by  the  newspaper 
in  question,  so  that  after  the  lapse  of  some  time 
the  members  of  an  editorial  board  are  unable  to 
differentiate  between  one  another's  productions.' 
An  almanac  is  another  form  of  anonymous  author- 
ship, which  furnishes  perhaps  a  still  closer  analogy 
to  the  ancient  method  of  book  writing,  so  largely 
a  matter  of  compilation  and  so  essentially  a  gradual 
growth. 

Among  the  Greeks  who  may  be  said  to  have 
invented  the  idea  of  authorship,  literary  produc- 
tion was  at  first  likewise  anonymous  and  non- 
individualistic.  The  Homeric  poems  are  the  work 
of  many  hands.  Their  composition  is  a  gradual 
growth,  and  even  if  it  be  admitted  that  their  final 
shape  was  due  to  the  genius  of  a  Greek  rhapsodist 
who  stood  out  preeminent  among  his  fellows  and 
whose  name  was  Homer,  that  would  not  yet  con- 
stitute Homer  the  author  in  the  same  sense  in 
which  Sophocles,  ^schylus  and  Euripides  are  the 
authors  of  the  plays  that  pass  under  their  names. 
In  the  case  of  the  Homeric  poems,  the  personality 
(if  there  was  one)  is  sunk  in  the  work,  whereas 
in  the  case  of  the  dramatists  of  Greece,  the  pro- 
duction  is  dominated  by  the  personality  of  the 

'  I  have  this  on  the  authority  of  my  friend  Dr.  Talcott  Williams. 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

author.  At  all  events,  the  Qreek^s^ppear  to  have 
been  the  first  among  the  peoples  of  antiquity  to. 
Have  brought  the  author  into  the  foreground.  The 
Greeks  created  the  author.  In  accord  with  the 
pronounced  spirit  of  individualism,  which  is  one 
of  the  distinguishing  marks  of  Greek  culture  that 
manifests  itself  in  art  as  well  as  in  literature,  the 
Greeks  passed  from  anonymity  in  literary  produc- 
tion to  individualistic  authorship.  When  we  reach 
the  golden  period  of  Greek  literature,  an  author's 
work  is  indelibly  stamped  with  his  personality.  The 
result  is  a  more  marked  differentiation  between 
the  productions  of  various  authors,  and  this  is 
particularly  striking  when  we  find  the  same  theme 
treated  by  different  authors,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
CEdipus  story,  which  engages  the  genius  of  both 
Sophocles  and  iEschylus.  The  author  becomes  a 
figure  of  growing  importance  in  public  life,  and 
from  the  domain  of  literature  this  importance  is 
extended  to  the  field  of  philosophical  thought  and 
physical  science.  Moreover,  the  written  word 
comes  to  be  viewed  with  the  same  reverence  that 
was  always  attached  to  the  spoken  one.  Oral  tra- 
dition is  supplemented  by  an  increasing  regard  for 
written  tradition  until  the  latter  comes  to  be  looked 
upon  as  more  authentic  than  the  former;  and  since 
this  depends  upon  the  accuracy  with  which  the 
productions  of  an  author  are  transmitted  through 
copyists,  we  have,  instead  of  the  former  liberties 
taken  with  a  literary  product,  growing  punctilious- 
ness to  preserve  a  text  in  the  form  which  the  author 

39 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

gave  It.  The  book  becomes  indissolubly  associated 
with  the  author.  So  important  does  the  author 
become  that  books  which  have  come  down  anon- 
ymously are  ascribed  to  authors  by  a  tradition  or 
by  an  inference  that  generally  turns  out  to  be  un- 
trustworthy. Instead  of  anonymity  we  now  have 
pseudepigraphy,  that  is,  trading  on  the  name  of 
an  author  in  order  to  secure  for  a  production  the 
weight  of  his  authority. 

Whether  in  running  this  gamut  from  the 
extreme  of  utter  indiflFerence  to  authorship  to  the 
exaltation  of  the  author  to  the  point  of  borrowing 
or  stealing  his  name  to  secure  recognition  for  a 
literary  work,  is  a  gain — is  another  question.  It 
no  doubt  stimulated  literary  production  by  hold- 
ing out  popularity  and  fame  as  an  attractive  bait, 
as  well  as  pecuniary  rewards  for  the  successful 
author,  but  it  also  promoted  the  vanity  which  goes 
with  authorship.  It  aroused  the  temptation  to 
court  popularity  even  at  the  cost  of  sincerity, 
and  led  to  writing  for  writing's  sake,  creating 
precisely  the  evil  "of  writing  many  books  without 
end"  against  which  the  commentator  to  Koheleth 
warns  us.  The.  ancient  writer  who  could  lay  no^ 
claim  to  proprietorship  in  his  productions  wrote 
because  he  had  something  to  say ;  the  author  whose 
^pareer  is  bound  up  with  literary  production  lives 
under  the  temptation  of  writing  because  he  wishes 
to  be  known  as  saying  something.  The  warnings 
against  books  without  end  suggests  that  the  seri- 
ousness of  writing  diminishes  in  proportion  to  the 

40 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

amount.  The  ready  writer  may  become  the  vol- 
uminous writer,  and  as  our  commentator  adds 
"much  discussion  is  a  weariness  of  the  flesh."  If 
Koheleth  wrote  just  for  the  pleasure  of  writing, 
the  caution  not  to  take  him  too  seriously,  with  the 
implication  that  "the  writing  of  many  books  with- 
out end"  is  to  be  added  to  the  list  of  human 
vanities,  is  decidedly  in  place. 

We  in  our  days  of  overwhelming  literary  pro- 
duction, over  and  above  the  more  than  100,000 
newspapers  that  are  printed  daily  throughout  the 
world,  are  tempted  to  make  such  a  fetish  of  the 
written  word  that  we  regard  something  as  more 
apt  to  be  true  because  we  have  seen  it  in  print.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  written  lies  far  outnumber  spoken 
untruths.  It  is  a  far  simpler  matter  to  print  a 
wrong  statement  than  to  make  one  verbally. 
Writing  cannot  be  said  to  have  increased  mankind's 
regard  for  the  truth.  Literature  is  not  an  ethical 
force  comparable  to  the  influence  exerted  by  the 
spoken  word.  The  greatest  figures  in  history,  the 
world's  greatest  teachers  as  Moses,  Buddha,  Jesus 
and  Mohammed  did  not  write,  as  little  as  did 
the  great  generals  (with  some  exceptions  like  Caesar), 
and  yet  they  shaped  the  course  of  human  events 
to  a  far  larger  extent  than  writers  have  ever  done. 

Perhaps  the  most  distinctive  achievement  of 
authorship  will  some  day  be  recognized  to  be  the 
creation  of  a  new  punctuation  mark —  the  quota- 
tion sign — and  a  new  crime — plagiarism.  In  the 
days  of  anonymous  writing,  plagiarism  belongs  to 

41 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  virtues.  It  was  an  endorsement  of  a  writer  to 
use  what  he  had  written,  an  indication  that  his 
production  had  vitaHty,  and  was  capable  of  being 
modified  and  elaborated,  but  woe  to  him  who  in 
the  period  of  authorship  fails  to  make  acknowl- 
edgement for  anything,  be  it  merely  an  expressive 
phrase  which  he  owes  to  a  fellow  craftsman.  He 
is  hurled  into  obloquy  and  assigned  to  a  special 
purgatory.  The  author,  however  great  his  merits 
otherwise  may  be,  is  shorn  of  his  reputation  if  he 
touches  so  much  as  a  hair  of  the  child  that  repre- 
sents the  mental  offspring  of  a  colleague. 

Ill 

BEGINNINGS   OF   LITERARY   COMPILATION 
AMONG  THE  HEBREWS 

This  apparent  digression  has  direct  bearings 
on  the  strange  fate  that  the  Book  of  Koheleth 
encountered  after  it  had  been  written  by  some 
unknown  philosopher  who  lived  in  Palestine  about 
the  close  of  the  third  century  before  our  era,  and 
who  aimed  to  set  before  us  his  attitude  towards  life, 
gained  as  a  result  of  wide  and  varied  experiences. 

The  period  of  the  Babylonian  Exile  which  set 
in  with  the  capture  and  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
in  586  B.C.  through  the  Babylonian  ruler  Nebu- 
chadnezzar II.  marks  a  turning-point  in  the  literary 
history  of  the  Hebrews,  as  well  as  in  their  politi- 
cal life  and  their  religious  development.  Up  to 
that  time  what  literary  production  there  was  con- 
tinued to  be  anonymous.    The  written  word  had 

42 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

not  yet  acquired  the  significance  attaching  to  the 
spoken  one.  The  popular  traditions  regarding  the 
beginnings  of  things  had  been  collected,  as  well  as 
the  folk-tales  recounting  the  early  experiences  of 
the  tribes  and  the  adventures  of  the  heroes  and 
striking  figures  of  the  past.  These  collections  in 
written  form,  but  without  authorship,  existed  in 
at  least  two  forms,  (i)  a  series  of  documents  that 
originated  in  the  Southern  Hebrew  Kingdom,^" 
known  from  the  preference  for  the  name  Yahweh 
as  the  designation  of  the  national  deity  as  the 
Yahwist  documents,  (2)  the  other  series  produced 
in  the  northern  kingdom  and  known  as  the  Elohist 
documents,  because  of  the  use  of  the  more  general 
designation  Elohim,  equivalent  to  our  term  "God" 
or  Deity,  in  place  of  Yahweh,  which  is  a  specific 
name  like  Zeus  or  Thor.  Several  codes  for  the 
regulation  of  the  government  and  of  the  ritual 
had  been  compiled,  representing  enlargements  of 
the  simple  legislation  in  the  form  of  oral  decisions, 
that  may  be  traced  back  to  the  beginnings  of  the 
national  life  of  the  Hebrews  under  a  great  leader 
whom  tradition  called  Moses.  These  codes  like  the 
Yahwist  and  Elohist  documents  were  anonymous, 
as  were  likewise  the  brief  annals  interspersed  with 
the  more  detailed  exploits  of  favorite  leaders  like 
Eli  and  Samuel,  and  of  the  more  prominent  rulers 

'"The  split  between  the  northern  and  southern  tribes  of  the  confederacy 
of  the  Hebrews  occurred  after  the  death  of  Solomon  c.  950  b.c.  The  North- 
ern Kingdom  came  to  an  end  in  722  b.c.  when  Samaria,  the  capital,  was 
taken  by  Sargon  the  King  of  Assyria.  The  Southern  Kingdom  survived 
about  140  years. 

43 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

like  Saul,  David,  Solomon  and  Ahab,  which  began 
to  be  compiled  during  the  two  or  three  centuries 
preceding  the  extinction  of  national  independence. 
It  is  possible  also  that  about  this  same  time  little 
collections  of  war  songs  and  folk  ditties  began  to 
be  made,  likewise  anonymous  in  their  authorship, 
which  even  after  they  had  been  committed  to 
writing  continued  chiefly  to  circulate  orally. 

In  the  eighth  century  before  this  era,  however, 
a  movement  sets  in,  beginning  in  the  north  and 
spreading  to  the  south,  which  was  destined  to 
give  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  groups  of  tribes  an 
entirely  new  turn.  Itinerant  preachers  arose  who, 
instead  of  flattering  the  rulers  and  pleasing  the 
people  by  comforting  assurances  of  the  protec- 
tion of  the  national  deity,  denounce  rulers  and 
people  alike  for  political  ambitions  and  for  social 
abuses.  They  set  up  as  a  new  standard  of  fidelity 
to  Yahweh,  obedience  to  moral  precepts  as  against 
mere  ritual  observances — sacrifices  and  expiatory 
offerings — as  a  means  of  securing  divine  favor. 
They  announce  the  revolutionary  doctrine  that 
Yahweh,  in  distinction  from  other  gods,  searches 
the  heart,  is  indifferent  to  sacrifice  and  invocation, 
aye,  rejects  both  unless  those  who  approach  Him 
have  clean  hands  and  a  clear  conscience.  These 
preachers  are  known  as  nehi'im  "prophets,"  but 
they  give  a  new  turn  to  the  old  designation,  for 
their  prophecies  are  threats  of  impending  national 
disaster,  instead  of  prognostications  of  the  future 
secured  through  an  oracle  or  through  some  tradi- 

44 


A   GENTLE  CTNIC 

tional  method  of  divination,  in  connection  with 
sacrifices  as  a  bribe  to  make  the  deity  well-disposed 
towards  those  who  call  upon  him.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  these  religious  teachers,  who  continue 
to  arise  after  the  overthrow  of  the  northern  king- 
dom and  who  survive  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  the 
conception  of  the  national  deity  Yahweh  under- 
goes a  profound  change.  Instead  of  the  old  con- 
ception of  a  willful  and  arbitrary  deity,  who  favors 
his  own  people  and  who  aids  them  in  vanquishing 
their  enemies,  provided  only  rulers,  priests  and 
people  combine  in  cajoling  and  flattering  him, 
Yahweh  is  now  viewed  as  a  Power  making  for 
righteousness,  who  has  set  up  certain  standards  of 
conduct  and  who  rules  by  self-imposed  laws  of  un- 
bending justice.  The  upshot  is  the  transformation 
of  Yahwism  into  Judaism.  Though  at  first  the 
scope  of  this  stern  and  just  Deity  was  regarded  as 
limited  to  his  own  people,  it  was  a  logical  corollary 
that  led  in  time  to  the  conception  of  this  new 
Yahweh  as  the  single  divine  Power  behind  the 
manifestations  of  the  universe,  and  controling  the 
destinies  of  mankind  in  general. 

IV 

A  NEW  RELIGION  AND  ITS  REFLEX  IN      ^ 
LITERATURE 

It  is  significant  that  this  movement  which 
ushers  in  a  new  religion  arises  at  a  time  when  the 
political  decay  of  both  kingdoms  had  begun  to  set 
in,  through  the  perpetual  menace  of  being  swal- 

45 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

lowed  up  by  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  great  powers 
of  antiquity — Babylonia  or  Assyria  on  one  side, 
and  EgjQt  on  the  other.  Judaism  is  not  brought 
to  fruition  till  the  exhausted  national  life  comes  to 
a  seemingly  permanent  close  through  the  enforced 
exile  of  important  elements  of  the  Hebrew  commu- 
nity to  Babylonia  after  the  capture  of  Jerusalem. 
Nebuchadnezzar,  in  thus  following  the  policy 
inaugurated  by  Assyria,  aimed  to  prevent  a  re- 
crudescence of  the  national  spirit.  He  succeeded, 
but  his  success  was  a  factor  in  divorcing  religion 
from  nationality  among  the  Hebrews,  and  led 
directly  to  the  greatest  contribution  of  the  He- 
brews to  civilization — the  creation  of  a  spiritual 
form  of  religion  with  the  conception  of  a  just  and 
righteous  Creator  of  the  universe  as  its  central 
dogma,  and  with  ethics  as  the  test  and  as  the  main 
expression  of  the  religious  spirit.  Judaism  is  the^ 
Js-utterfiy  that  bursts  forth  out  of  the  chrysalis  of 
Jlebrew  nationality. 

*  ""A  religious  movement  of  large  import  is  al- 
ways accompanied  by  an  intellectual  stimulus, 
and  we  accordingly  witness,  as  a  result  of  such 
a  stimulus  given  by  the  religious  teachings  of  the- 
prophets,  a  period  of  literary  activity  setting  in 
during  the  sojourn  of  the  best  elements  of  the  He- 
brew people  in  Babylonia.  The  Yahwist  and  Elohist 
(and  probably  other)  documents  are  combined 
with  the  codes  that  had  been  compiled  and  with 
the  annals  and  records  of  the  period  of  the  loose 
confederacy — known  as  the  days  of  the  Judges — 

46 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

and  of  the  more  closely  knit  union  in  the  days  of 
the  two  kingdoms,  to  form  a  continuous  history 
from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  the  destruction 
of  the  southern  kingdom."  What  is  more  significant, 
the  early  myths  and  traditions  as  well  as  the  genu- 
ine history  are  interpreted  in  the  spirit  of  the 
prophets.  Obedience  to  the  ethical  standards  set 
up  by  the  prophets  in  the  name  of  Yahweh,  now 
fast  changing  into  the  universal  Jehovah,  be- 
comes the  touchstone  according  to  which  the  tra- 
ditions and  events  of  the  past  are  judged.  Those 
who  stand  the  test,  like  the  patriarchs,  albeit 
purely  fanciful  creations  of  popular  tradition,  are 
held  up  as  the  models  for  all  times.  Disobedience 
is  followed  by  punishment,  and  all  the  misfortunes 
of  rulers  and  of  the  people,  including  visitations 
of  disease  and  famine,  defeats  in  battle  and  the 
final  extinction  of  the  national  life,  are  regarded 
as  the  inevitable  result  of  running  counter  to  the 
high  ethical  standards  set  up  by  the  prophets.  In 
this  endeavor,  history  is  often  distorted,  and  con- 
tradictions also  result.  Able,  rulers  like  Ahab  are 
held  up  to  scorn,  because  not  answering  ito  the^ 
ethical  test.  By  the  side  of  the  historical  and  real 
David,  a  purely  fictitious  pious  king  arises  to 
whom  as  a  "sweet  singer  of  Israel"  religious  com- 
positions are  ascribed,  breathing  a  religious  spirit 
that  is  quite  foreign  to  the  real  David,  and  embody- 
ing sentiments  far  in  advance  of  the  age  in  which 

"  Forming  the  first  division  of  the  Old  Testament,  from  Genesis  to 
Kings. 

47 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

he  lived.  The  David  to  whom  the  Psalms  are  as- 
cribed by  an  uncritical  age  is  a  figure  irreconcilable 
with  the  David  who  is  to  be  judged  by  the  acts  of 
his  life  and  by  his  political  policy.  The  traditions 
of  the  age  of  Solomon,  marking  a  signal  advance 
in  the  political  and  social  growth  of  the  united 
nation,  undergo  complete  transformation  with  a 
view  of  making  this  most  notable  figure  of  the  past 
conform  to  the  teachings  of  the  prophets.  Solomon 
becomes  a  paragon  of  wisdom  and,  what  is  more,  a 
pious  devotee  of  Yahweh,  impelled  by  his  fine 
religious  spirit  to  build  a  glorious  temple  in  the 
capital  city.  He  dedicates  the  edifice  with  a  prayer 
that  breathes  the  very  essence  of  a  highly  spir- 
itualized ethical  faith  in  a  God  of  universal  scope. 
The  real  Solomon  crops  out  in  stories  ^^  which  the 
compilers  of  historical  documents  were  either 
unwilling  to  suppress,  or  which  they  retained 
because  they  did  not  recognize  the  contradiction 
which  such  tales  presented  to  the  wise  and  good 
king  to  whom  were  ascribed  books  in  the  O.  T. 
collection,  reflecting  wisdom  and  a  philosophical 
attitude  towards  life,  like  Proverbs  and  Koheleth. 

V 

THE  FIRST  GENUINE  "AUTHORS" 

A  further  and  direct  result  of  this  literary 
activity  was  to  bring  the  conception  of  authorship 
more  into  the  foreground.    The  first  genuine  au- 

'*  As  e.g.  of  his  harem  and  of  his  worshipping  foreign  deities  (I  Kings 
xi.)  and  of  his  heavy  imposts  on  his  people  (chapter  xii). 

48 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

thors  among  the  Hebrews  were  the  prophets;  not 
as  yet  in  the  Greek  sense  of  claiming  proprietor- 
ship in  the  written  word,  but  in  stamping  their 
personaUty  indelibly  on  the  spoken  one.  For  these 
religious  guides  and  exhorters  in  the  pre-exilic 
period  were  still  speaking  and  not  yet  writing 
prophets.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  of  the  group 
represented  in  the  O.  T.  collection  by  the  books  of 
Amos,  Hosea,  Isaiah  and  Micah,  wrote  a  single 
word  of  the  prophecies  ascribed  to  them.  They 
spoke  to  the  rulers  and  to  the  people  as  the  oppor- 
tunity presented  itself.  It  may  be  that  some  of 
their  utterances  were  taken  down  at  the  time, 
or  shortly  thereafter,  by  interested  scribes,  but  for 
the  greater  part  the  preservation  of  such  remains 
as  we  have  of  the  warnings  and  instructions  and 
denunciations  of  the  pre-exilic  prophets  must  have 
been  due  to  the  profound  impression  that  they 
made  on  those  who  heard  them.  At  a  time  when 
oral  tradition  was  the  chief  means  of  preserving 
the  recollection  of  events  and  utterances  (as  well 
as  judicial  decisions  and  the  regulations  of  the 
cult),  the  human  memory  was  strong  and  reliable; 
and  this  applies  more  particularly  to  what  we  may 
call  the  collective  memory  which  forms  the  basis  of 
oral  tradition.  At  all  events,  the  striking  person- 
ality of  the  prophet,  as  the  source  of  the  impres- 
sion made  by  him,  leads  him  to  be  closely  associated 
with  what  he  says.  The  two — the  prophet  and  his 
utterance — become  bound  up  in  each  other.  In 
the  case  of  a  judicial  decision  or  an  oracle,  the 

4  49 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

judge  and  the  diviner  are  merely  mediums.  They 
derive  their  authority  from  their  supposed  direct 
relationship  to  the  deity  as  whose  representatives 
they  act.  The  collectors  of  traditions  and  the 
annalists  do  not  project  their  personality  into 
what  they  write  down,  but  the  prophet,  though 
speaking  in  the  name  of  Yahweh  and  because 
he  is  impelled  by  a  hidden  force  to  speak  out 
even  at  the  risk  of  danger  to  himself,  yet  gives  to 
what  he  says  a  personal  aspect  which  is,  as  already 
suggested,  the  keynote  to  his  influence. 

The  speaking  prophet,  thus,  in  a  very  perti- 
nent sense  represents  the  beginning  of  authorship 
among  the  Hebrews — by  virtue  of  this  identifica- 
tion of  his  utterances  with  his  personality. 

Jeremiah,  surviving  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, marks  the  transition  to  tjie  writing  prophet, 
for  the  tradition  which  represents  him  as  dictating 
his  utterances  to  a  scribe,  though  subsequent  to 
their  delivery,  appears  to  be  entirely  reliable.^' 
He  writes  letters^*  to  the  captives  in  Babylonia. 
When  we  come  to  Ezekiel,  the  great  prophet  of 
the  captivity,  the  transformation  from  the  speak- 
ing to  the  writing  prophet  is  complete.  Indeed, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  Ezekiel  spoke  at  all.  His 
chief  activity  consisted  in  writing  his  exhortations 
and  instructions,  and  in  circulating  them  through 
written  copies  ;^^  while  the  orations  of  the  later 

"  Jeremiah,  xxxvi.  "  Chapter  xxix. 

'"Note  particularly  the  last  nine  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Ezekiel 

chapters  xl-xlviii),  detailing  the  plan  for  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  and 

of  the  reorganization  of  the  cult,  which  clearly  were  intended  to  be  r«ad. 

SO 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

prophets,  carrying  us  down  into  the  third  century^, 
B.C.,  have  all  the  earmarks  of  artistic  literary  com- 
positions, written  to  be  read  rather  than  to  be 
heard.  The  author,  concerned  for  the  form  as 
much  as  for  the  matter,  steps  on  the  boards — and 
he  has  come  to  stay. 

More  than  this,  in  the  course  of  the  further 
development  of  the  written  literature,  the  author 
becomes  as  important  as  what  he  writes,  with  the 
result  of  associating  with  the  author  the  authority 
for  the  written  document.  When  that  stage  has 
been  reached,  the  tendency  arises  to  ascribe  the 
literary  remains  of  the  past  to  certain  authors. 
Anonymity  became  unsatisfactory;  it  seemed  to 
lack  authority.  Unless  it  was  known  who  said 
something,  how  could  one  be  sure  of  its  value  or 
its  authenticity.?  Such  was  the  profound  change, 
superinduced  through  the  emphasis  laid  upon 
authorship  in  the  case  of  any  composition,  that 
anonymity  which  was  formerly  a  source  of  strength 
now  became  a  symptom  of  weakness.  A  book  with- 
out an  author  appeared  to  be  a  body  without 
_a  head,  or  rather  a  lifeless  form  which  needed  the 
spirit  of  the  author  to  be  breathed  into  it  in  order 
to  awaken  it  to  real  life.  The  written  word  lost,  as 
It  were,  its  raison  d'etre,  unless  one  knew  who  was 
behind  the  document.  Cherchez  Vauteur  became  an 
obligation  resting  upon  those  who  wished  to  secure 
for  the  anonymous  productions  of  the  past  the 
authority  needed  to  preserve  them  as  precious 
legacies.     And  so  the  search  for  authors  began. 

51 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Authors  had  to  be  invented,  in  order  to  secure  a 

sanction  for  what  was  to  be  found  in  documents 

that  had  been  handed  down  from  past  ages.    The 

name  of  the  author  became  the  trademark  without 

which  a  Hterary  product  would  not  be  recognized 

as  genuine. 

VI 

TRADITIONAL  "AUTHORSHIP" 

It  is  a  direct  consequence  of  this  change  in  the 
attitude  towards  the  written  word  that  led  to  the 
tradition  which  ascribed  the  Pentateuch  in  its 
completed  form,  as  also  the  Book  of  Job,  to  Moses ; 
Joshua  and  Samuel  to  the  two  leaders  whose  names 
their  books  bore;  Kings  and  the  Book  of  Lamenta- 
tions to  Jeremiah.  In  further  development  of  this 
process,  which  was  a  gradual  one  stretching  over  a 
considerable  period,  Psalms  were  ascribed  to  David, 
and  Proverbs,  Koheleth  and  the  Song  of  Songs  to 
Solomon.  The  uncritical  and  unhistorical  character 
of  such  a  gradually  evolving  tradition  need  hardly 
be  emphasized.  In  most  cases  we  can  follow  the 
association  of  ideas  which  thus  led  to  distributing 
the  books  of  the  sacred  collection  among  a  group 
of  prominent  figures  of  the  past.  Because  the 
Pentateuch  which  became  technically  known  as  the 
"Five  Books  of  the  Law"  was  chiefly  looked  upon 
as  a  collection  of  laws,  despite  the  fact  that  the 
greater  part  of  it  is  taken  up  with  narratives,  it 
was  attributed  to  Moses,  he  having  become  in  tra- 
dition the  law-giver  par  excellence.  The  tradition 
thus  rested  upon  some  semblance  of  historical  jus- 

53 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

tification,  for  there  is  no  reason  to  question  that 
Moses  gave  certain  laws  for  the  government  of  the 
nomadic  tribes  whom  he  molded  into  some  kind 
of  a  political  unit.  These  laws  were  in  the  forms  of 
decisions.  No  doubt  some  of  the  provisions  in  the 
oldest  code^^  represent  in  written  form  these  early 
decisions,  but  it  was,  of  course,  an  entirely  uncriti- 
cal procedure  to  ascribe  all  laws  to  Moses,  and 
then  to  pass  beyond  this  and  make  Moses  the 
author  of  a  series  of  books  (containing  among  other 
things  the  description  of  his  death),  in  which  the 
codes  were  embodied. 

The  codes  were  originally  separate  from  the 
narratives  among  which  they  are  now  interspersed, 
and  themselves  represent  a  gradual  growth  extend- 
ing over  many  centuries.  The  longest  and  most 
important  of  these  codes^^  cannot  be  earlier  than 
440  B.C. — about  eight  hundred  years  after  Moses! 
To  Moses  was  also  ascribed  the  authorship  of  the 
Book  of  Job,  merely  because  the  prose  story  of 
Job  (chapter  i,  ii),  preceding  the  series  of  speeches 
by  Job  and  his  three  visitors,  appears  to  describe 
conditions  that  seemed  to  fit  in  with  the  patriar- 
chal days  which  Moses  is  supposed  to  have  de- 
scribed in  the  narratives  in  Genesis.  Even  more 
baseless  is  the  view  which  made  Joshua  the  author 
of  the  Book  of  Joshua  and  ascribed  to  Samuel 

i*This  is  the  so-called  Book  of  the  Covenant  (Exod.  xx-xiiii,  19), 
dating  from  about  the  ninth  century. 

"  The  so-called  Priestly  Code,  covering  Leviticus  and  a  large  part  of 
Numbers.  The  Deuteronomic  Code  (chapters  xii-xxvi),  now  encased  in  a  series 
of  introductory  and  concluding  addresses  ascribed  to  Moses,  with  some  his- 
torical or  rather  traditional  data,  dates  from  the  seventh  century. 

S3 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

the  books  of  Samuel,  merely  because  in  the  books 
in  question  Joshua  and  Samuel  appear  as  the 
prominent  figures.  To  David  the  Psalms  are 
ascribed  because  the  tradition  about  David  made 
him  a  poet  as  well  as  a  soldier.  Poetic  gifts  and 
warlike  qualities  are  not  unusual  companions. 
The  warrior  in  the  ancient  East,  free  from  conven- 
tional restraint,  is  apt  to  be  a  romantic  character. 
The  narratives  of  David  emphasize  this  trait,  and 
there  is  nothing  improbable  in  the  supposition 
that  he  also  composed  poems,  but  these  poems,  we 
may  be  sure,  recited  his  own  exploits  and  those  of 
his  ancestors.  They  were  martial  in  character,  not 
religious.  The  lament  over  Jonathan,  embodied 
in  the  narrative  of  Saul  and  David^^  may  have  been 
written  by  David,  at  least  in  part,  but  to  picture. 
David  as  a  composer  of  hymns,  embodying  the 
highest  religious  sentiments,  and  expressing  the 
longings  and  aspirations  of  a  finely  attuned  relig-' 
ious  soul,  wrapped  up  in  a  semi-mystic  attachment 
to  a  God  conceived  in  the  spirit  of  the  prophets, 
shows  the  length  to  which  an  uncritical  tradition 
could  go  in  the  endeavor  to  relieve  compositions 
of  anonymity. 

In  the  case  of  Proverbs  there  is  at  least  a  log- 
ical link  between  the  worldly  wisdom  underlying 
many  of  the  sayings  of  the  collection,  and  the  rep- 
utation for  wisdom  and  sound  judgment  which 
Solomon  acquired.  There  is  no  reason  to  question 
the   authenticity  of  this  view  of  Solomon,  even 

"  II  Samuel  i.  19-27. 

54 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

though  the  stories  told  in  the  Book  of  Kings^^  in 
illustration  of  the  king's  fine  sense  of  justice  and 
his  skill  in  reaching  a  decision  may  be  the  fanciful 
inventions  of  a  later  age.  But  many  of  the  Prov- 
erbs again  convey  religious  and  ethical  ideals  far 
in  advance  of  the  age  of  Solomon,  and  show  that 
the  tradition  ascribing  the  collection  to  him  is  pri- 
marily due  again  to  the  desire  to  hit  upon  some 
individual  who  seemed  appropriate  as  the  probable 
or  possible  author.  For  the  Song  of  Songs — a 
collection  of  love  ditties  of  purely  secular  origin, 
which,  through  an  artificial  exegesis,  under  the 
form  of  an  allegorical  interpretation  were  invested 
with  a  religious  purport^" — it  seemed  sufficient 
ground  for  a  naiVe  tradition  to  name  Solomon  as 
the  author,  because  the  Bridegroom  is  likened  to  a 
king^^ — and  Solomon  was  the  king  par  excellence. 
Similarly,  because  Koheleth,  the  writer  of  Eccles- 
iastes,  calls  himself  "a  king  in  Jerusalem,"  tradi- 
tion fixed  upon  Solomon  as  the  author.  The  author 
indeed  meant  to  represent  himself  as  Solomon,  and 
with  this  in  view  chose  a  thin  disguise  in  order 
not  to  fall  under  the  charge  of  deliberately  practi- 
cing a  deception  on  his  readers.     Jeremiah,  the 

"  e.g.  I  Kings  iii.  16-28 — the  judgment  of  Solomon  in  the  dispute  over 
the  child  claimed  by  two  women. 

^^  The  lover  was  pictured  as  Yahweh  and  the  beloved  as  Israel,  or,  in 
the  Christian  exegesis,  the  Bridegroom  became  Christ,  and  the  Bride  the 
church. 

^^  The  real  significance  of  the  comparison  lies  in  the  custom  still  found 
among  the  village  inhabitants  of  Palestine  to  hail  the  groom  and  bride  as 
king  and  queen.  The  wedding  festivities,  lasting  for  a  week,  take  on  the  form 
of  an  homage,  by  means  of  processions,  dances  and  jollification,  in  honor 
of  the  couple,  masquerading  as  king  and  queen. 

55 


A  GENTLE   CTNIC 

prophet  of  gloom,  who  bewails  the  destruction  of 
his  people,  even  while  announcing  the  downfall 
of  the  Southern  Kingdom  as  inevitable,  is  naturally- 
selected  as  the  author  of  the  book  of  Lamentations, 
as  he  seemed  to  be  also  an  appropriate  figure  to 
whom  to  attach  the  compilation  of  the  Book  of 

Kings. 

VII 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  SACRED  COLLECTION 

It  has  already  been  suggested  that  this  process 
of  assigning  authors  to  the  books  comprising  a 
sacred  collection  was  one  of  gradual  growth,  as  the 
formation  of  the  collection  itself  was  the  result  of  a 
long  process  that  did  not  reach  its  termination  till 
the  end  of  the  first  century  of  our  era.  We  cannot 
say  exactly  when  the  process  began.  We  know  that 
Ezra  brought  a  code  back  with  him  from  Babylo- 
nia about  440  B.C.  and  read  it  to  the  assembled 
people  at  Jerusalem.  It  was  represented  as  being 
the  law  which  Moses  had  given  his  people  at 
Yahweh's  command,  but  there  is  no  indication  as 
yet  that  the  entire  Pentateuch  was  already  in 
existence  in  its  present  form,  or  if  it  were  that  it 
was  ascribed  to  Moses  as  the  single  author.  The 
tradition  attributing  the  Pentateuch  as  a  whole  to 
Moses,  therefore,  does  nor  date  further  back  in 
any  case  than  the  fourth  century  b.c.  and  probably 
did  not  take  definite  shape  till  a  century  or  so 
later.  Moses  is  not  named  as  the  author  in  the 
Pentateuch  itself,  any  more  than  an  author  is 
named  in  the  Books  of  Joshua,  Judges,  Samuel  or 

56 


A  GENTLE  C7N1C 

Kings.  The  headings  or  titles  in  the  case  of  Psalms 
are  all  later  than  the  compositions  themselves. 
Many  of  them  have  no  headlines  at  all, 22  while 
quite  a  number  mention  other  names  than  David 
as  the  author23 — a  proof  that  the  tradition  ascrib- 
ing-them  all  to  David  was  not  yet  definite  in  "the" 
first  cen.tury  before  this  era,  which  is  the  earliest 
date  which  we  can  fix  for  the  final  reduction  of  the 
five  books  of  Psalms  in  their  present  form.  This 
conclusion  as  to  the  lateness  of  the  rise  of  tra- 
dition ascribing  authors  to  Biblical  books  is  con- 
firmed by  Proverbs — compiled  not  earlier  than 
the  middle  of  the  third  century  b.c. — since  some 
of  the  chapters,  according  to  the  headings,  are 
distinctly  ascribed  to  others  than  to  Solomon. ^^ 
For  Koheleth  and  the  Song  of  Songs  we  have 
merely  the  late  titles  as  the  indication  of  author- 
ship. Since  the  composition  of  these  two  books, 
likewise,  belongs  to  a  late  period,  all  the  evidence 
obliges  us  to  pass  close  to  the  beginning  of  our 
era  for  the  completion  of  the  process  which  estab- 
lished a  definite  authorship  for  all  the  books  of 
the  sacred  collection. 

Bearing  in  mind  that,  as  has  been  pointed  out, 
genuine  authorship  arises  among  the  Hebrews  with 
the  great  prophets  of  the  eighth  and  succeeding 
centuries,  and  becomes   definite  with  the  transi- 

^^  So,  e.g..  Psalms  i,  ii,  x,  xxxiii,  xliii,  Ixxi,  xciii-xcvii,  civ-cvii,  etc. 

''^  So,  e.g..  Psalms  xlii,  xliv,  xlvi-xlix,  Ixxxiv-lixxv,  are  ascribed  to  the 
sons  of  Korah;  1  and  Ixxiii-lxxxiil  to  Asaph;  Ixxii  to  Solomon;  xc  to  Moses, 
etc.    Others  mention  no  author  in  the  headline,  e.g..  Psalms  Ixvi-lxvii. 

**  Chapter  xxv  to  the  "Men  of  Hezekiah";  Chapter  xxx  to  Agur; 
Chapter  xxi  to  Lemuel. 

57 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

tion  from  the  speaking  to  the  writing  prophet,  we 
should  expect  a  more  reUable  tradition  to  have 
arisen  in  connection  with  that  portion  of  the  Old 
Testament  which  embodies  the  utterance  of  the 

'  prophets  of  pre-exilic,  exilic  and  post-exilic  times. 
That  in  considerable  measure  is  actually  the  case, 
but  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  precisely  in  this 
part  of  the  collection  we  come  across  the  first  in- 
stances of  pseudepigraphy,  that  is  to  say,  literary 
compositions  in  the  style  of  a  prophet  and  issued 
under  the  authority  of  his  name.  The  Book  of 
Isaiah  furnishes  the  most  conspicuous  example. 

.It  represents  a  collection  of  carefully  worked  out 
orations  covering  a  period  of  at  least  three  hundred 
years,  all  placed  under  the  name  of  Isaiah,  who 
flourished  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighth 
century  B.C.  The  genuine  Isaiah  stands  out  pre- 
eminent for  his  eloquence  and  his  power.  It  was, 
therefore,  a  name  to  conjure  with;  and  hence  under 
Isaiah  were  grouped,  in  addition  to  the  genuine 
utterances  of  the  pre-exilic  teacher — constituting 
hardly  more  than  a  fifth  of  the  present  compass 
of  the  book^^ — compositions  of  high  literary  merit 
but  which  bear  the  earmarks  of  the  exilic  and 
post-exilic  period  to  which  they  belong.  They 
were  clearly  written  for  the  consolation  and  en- 

^^  The  genuine  Isaiahanic  portions  are  to  be  found  in  the  first  half  of 
the  book;  they  are  chiefly  chapters  i-xii  (though  with  later  insertions);  xx 
and  portions  of  xvii,  xviii,  xxii  and  xxviii-xxxii.  Chapters  xl-lxvi  are 
entirely  exilic  and  post-exilic,  consisting  of  several  collections  that  once 
existed  independently  and  were  then  combined  and  added  to  the  first  part 
of  Isaiah.  See  for  a  brief  summary  of  the  present  state  of  the  problem, 
Gray,  "Critical  Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament,"  pp.  178-188. 

S8 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

couragement  of  the  pious  community  and  aimed 
to  give  expression  to  the  rehgious  ideals  of  the 
prophets  and  to  regulate  the  life  of  the  community- 
according  to  these  standards.  They  were  not  the 
fiery  denunciations  of  the  prophet  directly  address- 
ing his  hearers,  impelled  to  speak  out  the  thoughts 
that  burned  within  him  and  to  voice  the  desires 
and  hopes  which  consumed  his  being.  Even  when 
these  later  compositions  struck  the  note  of  despair 
and  of  uncompromising  criticism  of  the  policy  of 
political  or  rehgious  leaders,  the  mark  of  the 
written  composition  was  unmistakable.  What  was 
thus  composed  in  the  spirit  of  Isaiah,  what  echoed 
his  hopes  and  reflected  his  ideals,  even  what  con- 
sciously imitated  his  style  was  looked  upon  as 
worthy  of  finding  a  place  with  the  genuine  utter- 
ances. It  is  not  only  indicative  of  the  absence  of 
the  historical  sense  which  thus  led  compilers  to 
ascribe  to  Isaiah  productions  that  arose  genera- 
tions and  centuries  after  he  had  passed  away,  but 
also  of  the  still  inchoate  conception  of  author- 
ship. The  author  had  made  his  appearance,  but 
his  position  remained  for  a  time  somewhat  uncer- 
tain. The  impression  of  the  personality  had  begun 
to  predominate,  but  as  a  survival  of  the  earlier  age 
when  what  was  said  was  considered  more  important 
than  who  said  it,  what  might  have  been  said  by 
some  striking  personality  was  without  much  hesi- 
tation placed  in  the  class  with  what  a  more  or  less 
reliable  tradition  regarded  as  having  actually  been 
said  by  him. 

59 


A   GENTLE  CYNIC 

There  is  not  a  single  book  in  that  portion  of  the 
Old  Testament  devoted  to  the  collections  of  the 
utterances  and  orations  of  the  prophets  which 
does  not  contain  considerable  additions.  Even  in 
such  short  books  as  that  of  Jonah,  consisting  of 
four  chapters,  and  of  Obadiah,  consisting  of  only 
one  "vision" — the  technical  term  for  a  prophetic 
utterance — there  are  insertions,  while  in  longer 
books  like  Amos,  Hosea  and  Micah  for  the  pre- 
exilic  period  and  Nahum,  Joel,  Zephaniah  and 
Zechariah  for  the  post-exilic  age,  the  additions  are 
considerable.  The  last  of  the  prophets  in  the 
present  order,  strangely  enough,  writes  under  a 
now,  de  -plume,  Malachi.^^  All  these  books  are  still 
essentially  compilations,  in  which  it  was  considered 
entirely  proper  to  include  utterances,  irrespective 
of  their  origin,  which  seemed  to  be  appropriate. 
The  book  of  JEzekiel  shows  more  unity  than 
any  other  of  the  prophetical  books,  though  this 
book  also  includes  portions  that  do  not  belong  to 
Ezekiel,  while  in  the  case  of  the  Book  of  Jeremiah 
— a  combination  of  orations  with  a  histoTTcal  nar- 
rative— the  extraneous  parts  are  again  consider- 
able. We  can  thus  trace  in  the  editing  process 
itself  which  gradually  through  the  labors  of  vari- 
ous editors  produced  the  prophetical  books,  the 
further  evolution  of  literary  production  through 
the  stage  of  pseudepigraphy  after  the  conception 
of  the  author  had  arisen. 

*•  Malachi  means  "My  Messenger."  The  name  is  taken  from  Chapter 
iii.  I,  "Behold,  I  send  my  messenger."  The  three  chapters  bearing  this 
name  date  from  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  B.C. 

60  0 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

In  a  certain  sense  the  final  stage  of  this  process 
marked  by  a  scrupulous  regard  for  handing  down 
in  authentic  form  the  exact  words  of  an  author 
was  never  reached.  The  historical  sense  was  lacking 
even  in  the  first  century  of  our  era  when  the  canon 
of  the  Old  Testament  was  finally  fixed  by  learned 
but  entirely  uncritical  Rabbis,  who  looked  upon 
tradition  as  the  final  court  of  appeal.  The  rise  of  this 
tradition,  which  we  have  seen,  led  to  ascribing  the 
authorship  of  many  of  the  books  of  the  sacred  col- 
lections to  certain  figures  of  the  past  through  inci- 
dental association  of  ideas  with  these  men;  or,  on 
even  more  baseless  grounds,  is  in  itself  a  proof  that 
these  Rabbis  were  as  yet  not  far  removed  from  the 
age  which  considered  itself  justified  in  editing  the 
literary  remains  of  ancient  prophets  by  inserting 
verses,  sections,  chapters  and  entire  groups  of 
chapters  that  belonged  to  a  period  other  than  the 
one  in  which  the  prophet  flourished.  Without  a 
critical  and  historical  sense,  such  as  the  Greeks 
alone  among  the  peoples  of  antiquity  possessed  in 
so  striking  a  degree,  a  complete  sense  of  the  sig- 
nificance of  authorship  could  not  arise.  If  we  ac- 
cept the  other  alternative,  and  assume  that  those 
who  fixed  the  canonliad'such  a  sense,  we  should  be' 
forced  to  accuse  them  of  willful  deception,  aye,  of 
literary  forgery  when,  for  example,  they  claimed 
for  Moses  the  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch,  and 
for  David  the  authorship  of  the  Psalms;  or  for 
Solomon  the  authorship  of  Proverbs,  Song  of 
Songs  and  Koheleth;  and  so  on  through  the  list. 

6i 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

They  are  saved  from  this  serious  charge  by  their 
naivete  in  accepting  unreHable  traditions.  We  may 
feel  quite  sure  that  if  Johanan  ben  Zakkai,  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  group  that  settled  at  Jamnia 
(or  Jabneh),  where  the  canon  was  fixed  at  the  end 
of  the  first  century  a.d.,  could  be  brought  out  of 
his  grave  and  the  question  put  to  him  whether  he 
really  meant  that  Moses  wrote  the  Pentateuch, 
(including  the  description  of  his  own  death) ^^  and 
that  Solomon  wrote  the  Proverbs,  that  everything 
in  the  book  of  Isaiah  was  written  by  Isaiah,  he 
would  be  amazed  at  a  query  that  would  appear 
unintelligible  to  him,  because  involving  a  concep- 
tion of  authorship  that  had  not  yet  been  reached 
in  the  uncritical  age  to  which  he  belonged,  and 
which  also  lacked  the  true  historical  sense. 

VIII 

KOHELETH  AS  A  NOM  DE  PLUME 

Having  thus  sketched  the  growth  of  literary 
production  among  the  Hebrews  from  anonymity 
to  the  rise  of  the  conception  of  authorship,  and 
through  this  to  the  stage  of  naive  pseudepigraphy 
and  to  the  formation  of  an  uncritical  and  unhistor- 
ical  tradition  regarding  the  authors  of  the  books  of 
a  sacred  collection,  we  are  prepared  to  assign  the 
Book  of  Koheleth  to  its  proper  place,  and  we  are  also 
ready  to  make  the  attempt  of  separating  the  orig- 
inal portions  of  the  book  from  the  additions  and 

2' To  explain  this  strange  detail,  the  Rabbis  assumed  that  Joshua 
added  the  last  eight  verses  of  Deuteronomy. 

62 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

modifications  to  which,  in  common  with  all  of  the 
books  of  the  sacred  collection,  it  was  exposed. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  us  in  the  book  is 
that  the  author  speaks  of  himself.    "I,  Koheleth, 
was  king  over  Israel  in  Jerusalem"  (i.  12).    This 
notice  does  not  occur  at  the  beginning,  but  in  the 
body  of  the  book.  It  is  all  the  more  reliable  because 
it  is  not  a  heading,  for  the  headings  to  all  the  books 
of  the  O.  T.  are  later  additions,  as  are  the  titles  of 
the  Psalms  and  the  headlines  to  the  chapters  in  the 
collections  of  the  prophets.     These  headings  and 
titles  are,  therefore,  of  no  value  in  determining  the 
period  to  which  a  book  belongs  or  of  the  circum- 
stances under  which  it  was  written.    A  reference, 
however,  to  an  author  within  a  book  is  a  valuable 
index;  and  its  value  is  increased  when  we  find  such 
a  reference  to  be  unique.    That  is  in  fact  the  case. 
Most  of  the  books  of  the  O.  T. — as  the  Penta- 
teuch and  all  the  historical  books,  as  well  as  Job, 
Esther, Daniel  and  Ruth — have  not  even  headings. ^^ 
The  book  of  Koheleth  is  the  only  one  in  which  an 
author  speaks  of  himself  by  name  or  in  the  first 
person.    The  closest  analogy  is  in  the  case  of  the 
prophets  who  use  the  first  person  when  describing 
a  vision,29  or  in  connection  with  the  divine  message 
which  they  receive,^"  but  they  never  speak  of  them- 
selves by  name.    The  introduction  of  the  name  is 
an  indication  that  we  have  passed  the  period  of 

^  The  headings  are  found  only  in  the  case  of  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Song 
of  Songs,  Koheleth  and  Nehemiah  and  in  the  collections  of  the  prophets. 
^^  e.g.,  Isaiah  vi. 
^'^  So  constantly,  Ezekiel. 

63 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

anonymity  and  have  reached  the  point  when  it 
became  customary,  though  not  as  yet  essential,  to 
associate  a  literary  production  with  some  individ- 
ual. The  book  is  no  longer  common  property, 
and  this  leads  us  to  the  period  subsequent  to  the 
appearance  of  the  great  prophets  in  the  eighth 
century  with  whom,  as  we  have  seen,^^  authorship 
in  any  real  sense  begins  among  the  Hebrews. 

We  may  further  conclude  that  Koheleth  be- 
longs to  a  transition  period.  The  process  leading 
from  anonymity  in  literary  production  to  a  defi- 
nite sense  of  authorship  is  not  yet  complete. 
This  follows  from  the  fact  that  Koheleth  is  not  a 
genuine  name  but  a  disguise  for  the  real  author.  It 
is  not  until  about  i8o  B.C.  that  we  come  across  a 
book  with  an  author  among  the  Jews,  as  we  should 
call  the  people  after  the  exilic  period  in  contradis- 
tinction to  "Hebrews,"  which  is  the  proper  desig- 
nation in  the  pre-exilic  age.  About  that  year  a 
certain  Jesus  Ben  Sira  issued  under  his  name  a 
collection  of  sayings  which  was  translated  into 
Greek  by  his  grandson  about  fifty  years  later  and 
became  known  as  Ecclesiasticus,  though  the  more 
proper  designation  is  "The  Wisdom  of  Ben  Sira."*^ 
This  book  was  not  included  in  the  sacred  canon 
but  found  a  place  in  the  supplementary  collection 
known  as  the  "Apocrypha. "    That  the  work  of  Ben 


'^  Above,  p.  49  et  seq. 

3-  Until  quite  recently  the  Hebrew  original  was  lost.  Large  portions 
of  it  were  discovered  by  the  late  Solomon  Schechter  and  were  embodied 
in  a  special  work,  "Fragments  of  the  Hebrew  Original  of  the  Wisdom  of 
Ben  Sira,"  by  S.  Schechter  and  C.  Taylor  (Cambridge,  1899). 

64 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

Sira  was  not  regarded  as  worthy  of  a  place  in  the 
sacred  collection  was  due  in  part  to  its  late  date 
(though  the  Book  of  Daniel  and  many  of  the  Psalms 
are  of  still  later  origin)  but  in  larger  part  to  the 
very  fact  that  it  appeared  with  the  name  of  its 
author  attached.  Had  Ben  Sira  issued  it  anony- 
mously or  had  he  conveyed  the  impression  that  it 
was  the  work  of  Solomon,  it  would  have  stood  a 
good  chance  of  forming  a  second  book  of  Proverbs, 
for  the  spirit  is  much  the  same  as  in  these  books,  and 
some  of  the  sayings  are  just  as  fine  and  as  striking 
as  the  earlier  collection  to  which  tradition  had 
attached  the  name  of  the  famous  and  wise  king. 
Koheleth  lived  at  a  time  when  the  author 
had  begun  to  be  a  factor  in  the  intellectual  and 
social  life,  but  still  could  hide  himself  under  a 
nom  de  plume  and  reap  an  advantage  from  so 
doing.  For  Koheleth  is  a  disguise  and  it  is  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  in  describing  himself  as  a 
king  over  Jerusalem,  who  had  amassed  wealth, 
who  possessed  great  power  and  who  was  also 
"wiser  than  all  who  were  before  me  in  Jerusalem  " 
(i.  i6),  he  aimed  to  identify  himself  with  Solomon 
whose  name  must,  therefore,  have  already  become 
at  the  time  when  Koheleth  wrote  a  synonym  for 
wisdom,  glory  and  power.  The  device  was  suc- 
cessful. An  uncritical  tradition,  accepting  the  im- 
plication in  the  disguise,  attributed  the  book  to 
Solomon.  The  magic  of  this  name  went  a  large  way 
towards  overcoming  the  objections  that  later  arose 
against  its  inclusion  in  the  canon  because  of  its 
5  6s 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

heterodox  spirit  and  contents.  The  name  Kohe- 
leth  thus  furnishes  an  instance  of  real  pseude- 
pigraphy  among  the  Jews.  We  may  acquit  the 
author  of  any  desire  to  deceive  his  readers,  and  he 
certainly  did  not  look  forward  to  having  his  book 
included  in  a  sacred  collection,  but  apart  from  the 
hope  which  may  have  tickled  his  vanity  of  increas- 
ing both  the  popularity  and  the  influence  of  his 
book  by  creating  the  impression  that  he  was  speak- 
ing in  the  name  of  the  wise  and  glorious  king,  he 
may  have  been  actuated  in  adopting  a  nom  de 
plume  by  the  fear  of  risking  a  personal  unpopularity 
through  his  identification  with  the  teachings  which 
he  set  forth  in  such  bold  fashion.  The  author  may 
not  have  been  of  the  stuff  of  which  martyrs  are 
made.  Authors  rarely  are.  He  would,  at  all  events, 
have  been  condemned  by  the  pious  and  the  ortho- 
dox, and  his  book  after  creating  a  mild  sensation 
would  probably  have  been  consigned  to  oblivion. 
Instead  of  being  included  in  a  sacred  collection,  it 
might  have  been  placed  on  an  Index  Librorum 
prohihitorum  and  the  world  would  have  been  the 
poorer  for  the  loss.  We  should,  therefore,  be  grate- 
ful for  the  device  which  he  adopted  as  well  as  for 
its  complete  success,  indicated  by  the  heading  at 
the  beginning  of  the  book,  which  was  subsequently 
added,  and  in  which  the  words  "son  of  David" 
were  included  so  as  to  remove  all  doubt  of  the 
identification  of  Koheleth  with  the  famous  king. 

But  how  can  we  be  so  certain  of  the  name 
Koheleth  having  been  chosen  as  a  disguise  .f'     In 

66 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  first  place,  we  know  that  there  was  no  Hebrew 
king  of  that  name,  just  as  there  was  no  "King 
Lemuel"  who  appears  as  the  author  of  the  last 
chapter  of  Proverbs,  and  whose  name  is  likewise  a 
disguise;  and  secondly,  Koheleth  does  not  repre- 
sent a  formation  in  Hebrew,  which  could  be  used 
as  the  name  of  an  individual.  The  word  is  com- 
posed of  four  consonants,  KHLT,^^  the  last  of 
which  is  the  indication  of  a  feminine  noun. 

This  of  itself  forbids  us  to  regard  the  word  as 
the  name  of  a  man.  Hebrew  proper  names,  as  proper 
names  in  other  Semitic  languages,  are  composed  of 
a  verb  with  the  name  of  a  deity  as  the  subject — 
expressed  or  implied — to  which  a  noun  may  be 
attached  as  an  object.  Thus  Nathaniel,  meaning 
"God  has  given, " originally  had  a  noun  like  "son" 
attached  to  it;  and  such  a  name  was  further  ab- 
breviated to  Nathan,  by  the  omission  of  the 
name  of  the  deity.  David,  meaning  "Beloved" 
was  originally  "Beloved  of  Yah."^*  Jerubbaal, 
meaning  "Baal  has  added"  was  originally  "Baal 
has  added  a  son."  Joseph,  meaning  "he  adds,"  is 
abbreviated  from  the  fuller  name,  which  may  have 
been  "God  adds  a  son."  Now  a  form  like  Koheleth 
from  an  underlying  stem  KHL  meaning  "to 
gather,"  and  with  an  ending  T  attached,  would 
have  abstract  or  collective  force  as  "gathering" 
or  "assembly."    This  was  the  meaning  taken  by 


'^  Only  the  consonants  are  written  in  the  Hebrew  script.    The  vowel 
signs  were  subsequently  added,  and  in  Hebrew  manuscripts  do  not  appear. 
^*  A  form  of  the  name  "Yahweh." 

67 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  one  who  translated  the  book  into  Greek,'^  and 
with  the  book  also  the  name  of  the  author — 
Ecclesiastes,  which  can  hardly  be  rendered  other- 
wise than  "an  assembly  man"  or  as  we  might  put 
it  "assembly  [or  church]  speaker."  The  Greek 
translator  appears  to  have  followed  Jewish  tra- 
dition, which  likewise  explained  the  term  as 
"preacher."  The  term  however  might  also  be 
be  rendered  as  "assembler"  or  "collector."  Less 
plausible  are  other  suggestions  proposed  for  the 
name  as  "academy,"  "narrator,"  "member  of  an 
assembly"  and  the  like.^^  Whichever  of  these 
explanations  we  adopt,  it  is  evident  that  Koheleth 
is  not  the  genuine  name  of  an  individual,  but  an 
artificial  designation. 

Ernest  Renan  suggested"  that  each  of  the 
four  letters  represented  the  beginning  of  a  word, 
so  that  the  name  would  be  the  abbreviation  of  a 
sentence,  but  since  it  is  impossible  to  determine 
what  the  words  were,  the  conjecture  does  not  carry 
us  very  far.  If,  as  seems  certain,  the  author  intended 
to  have  us  believe  that  Koheleth  was  Solomon, 
then  in  some  way  the  four  letters  KHLT  ought 
to  be  a  disguise  for  ShLMH  which  are  the  four 
consonants  of  the  name  Solomon  in  its  Hebrew 
form.  The  common  manner  in  which  words  are 
disguised  in  Hebrew  is  to  substitute,  for  the  correct 

^^  Hardly  earlier  than  the  close  of  the  first  century  of  our  era. 

^^See  thediscussion  of  the  name  in  Renan's  "L'EccIesiaste"  (Paris, 
1890),  pp.  II  et  seq.  and  Barton's  "Commentary  to  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes," 
pp. 67-68. 

'^  In  the  Introduction  to  his  French  translation  of  Koheleth, 
"L'EccIesiaste"  (Paris,  1890),  p.  6. 

68 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

consonants,  others  chosen  according  to  some  sys- 
tem as,  for  example,  to  take  in  place  of  the  first 
consonant  in  the  alphabetical  order  the  last,  in 
place  of  the  second  the  one  before  the  last,  and  so 
on.  But  neither  this  system  nor  any  other  cipher 
leads  to  any  satisfactory  result.  A'  name  may, 
however,  also  be  disguised  by  starting  from  the 
meaning  of  the  underlying  stem,  and  replacing 
that  stem  by  another  that  is  synonymous.  The 
stem  Sh  L  M  which  underlies  Solomon  signifies 
"to  be  complete,"  "to  be  whole,"  and  this  comes 
close  to  "gather"  and  "assemble"  which  we  have 
seen  is  the  meaning  of  the  stem  KHL.  Both 
ShLMH  and  KHLT,  moreover,  have  the  feminine 
ending  which  in  Hebrew  is  either  H  or  T.  It  may 
be,  therefore,  that  this  association  of  ideas  led  the 
author  to  the  disguise  chosen  by  him. 

More  important,  however,  than  the  explana- 
tion of  the  name,  pleasant  though  it  would  be  to 
find  an  entirely  satisfactory  one,  is  the  fact  that 
the  author  chose  a  nom  de  plume.  This  suggests 
that  the  age  in  which  he  wrote  stands  midway 
between  the  beginning  of  authorship  among  the 
Hebrews  and  the  completion  of  the  process,  rep- 
resented by  Jesus  Ben  Sira  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
is  the  first  actually  to  issue  a  book  under  his  name. 
Koheleth  belongs,  therefore,  to  a  time  when  names 
were  associated  with  literary  productions,  but 
before  the  period  when  this  had  become  the  conven- 
tional practice  on  the  part  of  authors.  This  nar- 
rows the  range  of  the  possible  date  of  composition 

69 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

of  the  book  to  the  three  centuries  between  the  end 
of  the  exiHc  period  and  the  time  of  Jesus  Ben 
Sira.  That  the  age  of  Ben  Sira  (c.i8o  B.C.)  is  the 
terminus  ad  quern  for  the  composition  of  Ecclesi- 
astes  is  now  definitely  estabhshed  through  the 
discovery  of  large  parts  of  the  Hebrew  original  of 
his  "sayings,"  which  reveal  his  dependence  upon 
Koheleth  both  in  thought  and  in  language. ^^  The 
relationship  is  at  times  so  close  as  to  amount  vir- 
tually to  a  quotation  from  Koheleth  on  the  part  of 
Ben  Sira,  and  the  evidence  is  complete  that  Ben 
Sira  utilizes  Koheleth  and  not  vice  versa. 

We  are  led  to  the  post-exilic  period,  i.e.,  after 
500  B.C.,  for  the  composition  of  the  book  by  the 
further  consideration  of  the  successful  device  of  the 
author  in  having  his  book  ascribed  to  Solomon,  for 
the  Solomon  of  tradition,  who  becomes  an  author, 
rests  upon  the  growth  of  legend  around  that  illus- 
trious figure,  which  transformed  him  from  a  very 
worldly  figure  to  a  type  of  wisdomj'and  piety.  This 
transformation  belongs  to  the  post-exilic  age.  To 
be  sure,  even  in  the  post-exilic  Book  of  Kings 
in  which  the  monarch  is  idealized,  his  fondness  for 
women  and  his  introduction  of  foreign  cults  are 
not  entirely  suppressed,  but  they  are  glossed  over 
as  due  to  the  weaknesses  of  his  old  age.^^  The  apol- 
ogetic aim  is  evident,  as  is  the  further  contradic- 
tion between  the  real  and  the  traditional  Solomon 

^*  The  reader  will  find  the  proof  succinctly  set  forth  in  Barton's  "Com- 
mentary" pp.  53-56,  and  also  in  McNeile's  "Introduction  to  Ecciesiastes" 

pp.  34-39- 

39 1  Kings  xi. 

70 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

in  the  scene  between  his  successor  Rehoboam  and 
the  representatives  of  the  people  who  ask  to  be 
reheved  of  the  taxations  and  hard  service  which 
Solomon  had  put  upon  them''".  This  picture  ill 
accords  with  the  policy  of  a  virtuous  and  god- 
fearing ruler.  It  is  evident  that  it  is  not  the  histor- 
ical figure  but  the  idealized,  unhistorical  Solomon 
of  the  post-exilic  period  who  comes  to  be  regarded 
as  the  author  to  whom  Proverbs,  Song  of  Songs 
and  Koheleth  are  attributed.  The  necessity  for 
making  Solomon,  as  the  supposed  author  of  these 
books,  accord  with  the  figure  of  tradition,  led  in 
the  case  of  the  Song  of  Songs  to  an  allegorical  in- 
terpretation so  as  to  disguise  the  secular  and  indeed 
sensual  character  of  these  charming  love  ditties. 
In  the  case  of  Koheleth,  it  led  to  large  additions  in 
order  to  tone  down  the  main  two  features  of  the 
book,  namely,  the  reflection  that  life  is  vanity, 
and  the  advice  to  enjoy  the  material  pleasures 
of  life  as  the  best  way  of  spending  one's  days. 

IX 

THE  ADDITIONS  TO  KOHELETH 

The  character  of  these  additions  is  unmistak- 
able. Let  us  take  up  a  few  illustrations.  Koheleth, 
in  accord  with  the  idealized  figure  of  Solomon, 
represents  himself  as  having  acquired  "wisdom 
and  knowledge"  greater  than  any  of  his  prede- 
cessors.^^    He   then    resolves  to  make   a  test  of 


*"  Chapter  xii. 

*^  Chapter  i.  i6.    The  picture  is  clearly  based  on  I  Kings  v.  9-1 1. 

7X 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

frivolity  and  foolishness  "^^  as  the  direct  opposite 
of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  only  to  find  out  that 
this  was  futile,  "chasing  after  wind"  as  the  pic- 
turesque phrase  runs.  Now,  it  would  not  be  consis- 
tent with  the  dignity  of  a  wise  king  to  represent  him 
as  deliberately  following  foolish  pursuits.  So,  in 
order  to  save  his  reputation,  the  word  "wisdom"  is 
inserted  to  suggest  that  by  virtue  of  his  pursuing 
also  wisdom,  he  ascertained  the  emptiness  of 
"frivolity  and  foolishness. "  Similarly,  when  Kohe- 
leth  in  the  course  of  his  career  also  decides  to  make 
a  test  of  riotous  living  (ii.  3),  the  commentator 
adds  "my  mind  acting  with  wisdom,"  to  indicate 
that  the  wise  and  pious  Solomon  did  not  throw 
himself  madly  into  sensual  delights,  but  solely  as 
a  test. 

Still  more  striking  are  the  additions  consist- 
ently introduced  after  the  conclusion  is  reached  to 
"eat,  drink,  and  be  merry."  Koheleth  argues^^ 
why  spend  one's  life  in  hard  work  when  at  the  end 
of  it  all  one  must  leave  one's  wealth  to  someone 
who  has  not  labored  for  it.'*  Is  not  life  vain  if  spent 
in  days  of  toil  and  nights  of  worry  .^  Therefore — 
enjoy  thyself,  and  look  upon  this  as  the  aim  of  life, 
approved  by  God.  This  is  strange  advice,  indeed, 
to  be  offered  by  the  wise  and  pious  Solomon;  and, 
accordingly,  a  commentator  adds  that  the  capacity 
for  the  enjoyment  of  life  is  "a  gift  of  God"  be- 
stowed only  on  the  virtuous,  whereas  the  sinner  is 


^  Chapter  i.  17. 
*^  Chapter  ii.  20-25. 


72 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

punished  by  being  obliged  to  toil  and  to  leave  enjoy- 
ment to  the  virtuous  (ii.  26).  The  contradiction 
to  the  trend  of  Koheleth's  thought  is  as  manifest 
as  is  the  sophistry  in  the  imphcation  that  only  the 
good  can  enjoy  life,  and  that  the  virtuous  are  not 
apt  to  fall  heir  to  tainted  money. 

When  again  Koheleth  contends  that,  since 
things  cannot  be  changed  in  this  world  from  the 
manner  in  which  God  made  them,  one  should  en- 
joy what  there  is  (iii.  12-14),  ^^^  commentator 
adds  that  "God  has  so  made  [the  world]  that  man 
will  fear  Him"  (iii.  14^) — thus  rather  skillfully 
giving  a  reverent  turn  to  Koheleth's  cynical  reflec- 
tion. Again,  when  towards  the  end  of  the  book 
Koheleth  once  more  reaches  the  conclusion  that  life 
without  enjoyment  is  vain,  that  one  should  follow 
one's  inclinations  and  satisfy  all  one's  desires,  the 
antidote  to  such  teachings  is  given  in  the  added 
warning,  "But  know  that  for  all  these  things  God 
will  bring  thee  into  judgment"  (xi.  9) —  a  reflection 
which  is  as  far  removed  from  Koheleth's  point  of 
view  as  heaven  is  from  earth. 

Our  commentator  pursues  his  double  purpose 
to  the  bitter  end;  (i)  to  make  the  picture  of  Sol- 
omon accord  with  the  traditional  figure  of  the  wise 
and  God-fearing  king  and  (2)  to  lend  the  weight  of 
Solomon's  name  to  counteract  the  objectionable 
and  dangerous  conclusions  reached  by  Koheleth. 
Accordingly,  when  Koheleth  closes  his  book  by 
the  assertion  "all  is  vanity"  (xii.  8)  the  pious 
commentator  adds   "Fear  God   and   observe   his 

73 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

commandments,  for  this  [applies  to]  every  man" 
(xii.  13)-       _ 

These  illustrations  will  suffice  to  enable  us 
to  detect  such  additions  whenever  they  occur. 
They  meet  us  at  every  turn/*  For  the  most  part 
they  are  brief  as  when,  in  the  midst  of  an  argument 
that  the  purpose  of  God  in  making  the  world  is 
past  finding  out,  the  commentator  to  counteract 
such  irreverent  pessimism  insists  "God  has  made 
everything  beautiful  in  its  season"  (iii.  ii^),  or 
when  Koheleth  in  a  cynical  spirit  urges  us  to  put  no 
confidence  in  dreams,  the  opportunity  is  seized  upon 
to  give  the  advice,  "Fear  God"  (v.  6).  To  coun- 
teract the  gloomy  reflection  that  "the  day  of  death 
is  better  than  the  day  of  birth,"  the  saying  is 
inserted  "better  is  a  [good]  name  than  fine  oil" 
(vii.  i).  When  Koheleth,  consistent  with  his  point 
of  view,  advises  against  being  either  too  bad  or  too 
good,  for  either  will  bring  one  into  trouble,  the 
commentator  in  his  optimistic  spirit  adds  that  "he 
who  fears  God  will  steer  clear  of  everything"  i.e., 
will  avoid  all  difficulties  (vii.  i8^).  Not  infre- 
quently, however,  the  additions  are  more  elaborate. 
To  furnish  the  answer  to  Koheleth's  contention, 
based  upon  his  experience,  that  in  this  topsy-turvy 
world  the  wicked  are  buried  amidst  pomp,  whereas 
the  righteous  are  forgotten,  the  pious  commentator 
enters  upon  an  elaborate  argument  (viii.  11-13),  to 
show  that  even  if  justice  is  not  always  promptly 

*^  In  the  brief  comments  to  the  translation  I  have  indicated  them, 
and,  in  order  to  give  a  general  view  of  their  character,  I  have  put  them 
together  in  the  Appendix. 

74 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

meted  out,  "it  shall  not  be  well  for  the  wicked" 
and  that  virtue  will  find  its  reward — which  is  per- 
cisely  the  contrary  of  what  Koheleth  asserts,  not 
only  in  this  place  but  elsewhere. 

Of  special  Interest  are  additions  in  which  the 
style  of  Koheleth  is  deliberately  imitated,  so  as  to 
make  the  conformity  to  the  traditional  Solomon 
more  plausible.  Koheleth  has  just  declared^^  that 
justice  is  often  perverted  in  this  world  and 
that  the  wicked  are  enthroned  in  the  seat  of  the 
righteous.  Such  a  sentiment  is  entirely  out  of  place 
in  the  mouth  of  a  king  famed  for  his  righteous 
judgment,  and  so  the  traditional  Solomon  is  made 
to  add,  "But  I  reflected  that  God  will  judge  both 
the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  for  there  Is  an  ap- 
pointed time  for  every  occurrence  and  for  every  act" 
(Hi.  17).  This  sentiment,  the  close  of  which  is 
reminiscent  of  Hi.  i,  is  put  precisely  in  the  manner 
of  Koheleth  and  with  conscious  intent,  as  Is  also  the 
addition  at  the  close  of  the  seventh  chapter,  where 
after  Koheleth  has  given  voice  to  a  particularly 
striking  bit  of  cynicism  that  whereas  one  might  dis- 
cover a  genuine  man  in  a  crowd  of  a  thousand,  one 
will  not  find  a  decent  woman,  the  pious  commenta- 
tor tries  to  tone  down  the  thought  by  making  Kohe- 
leth say,  "Besides,  however,  I  have  found  this,  that 
God  has  made  man  straight,  but  they  have  devised 
many  contrivances"  (vii.  29)  by  which  the  original 
fine  nature  of  man  is  perverted.  In  this  way  God 
is  at  least  relieved  from  the  Initial  responsibility  for 

^^  Chapter  iii.  i6. 

7S 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  worthlessness  of  most  men  and  of  all  women. 
The  addition  is  in  keeping  with  the  conventional 
view  of  man's  fall  from  grace  by  sin,  as  illustrated 
in  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis. 

X 

THE  PROVERBS  APPENDED  TO  KOHELETH 

But  besides  these  additions — made  in  the  in- 
terest of  maintaining  intact  the  figure  of  Solomon 
as  the  type  of  the  virtuous  and  God-fearing  king, 
after  he  had  become  associated  with  the  book  of 
Koheleth  as  its  author,  and  to  offer  the  antidote 
to  the  poisonous  teachings  of  the  real  Koheleth — 
there  are  also  scattered  throughout  the  book  say- 
ings and  maxims,  generally  in  praise  of  the  advan- 
tages of  wisdom  and  of  the  qualities  of  the  wise 
man,  which  are  introduced  again  with  a  double 
aim,  to  strengthen  the  plausibility  of  Solomon, 
the  supposed  compiler  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs, 
being  also  the  author  of  Koheleth,  and  to  further 
counteract  some  of  the  heretical  teachings  and, 
more  particularly,  the  skeptical  and  cynical  spirit 
pervading  the  entire  book.  These  additions,  of 
which  there  are  considerably  more^^  than  of  the 
class  just  discussed,  are  entirely  in  the  style  of  the 
Book  of  Proverbs  and  might  indeed  have  been  in- 
cluded in  that  collection.  Where  do  they  come 
from?    Evidently  the  collection  of  sayings  in  our 

**  They  cover  about  40  verses  or  about  one-sixth  of  the  entire  book 
which  consists  of  222  verses,  as  against  about  25  verses  covered  by  the  addi- 
tions of  the  pious  commentator.  They  are  indicated  in  every  instance  in  the 
comments  to  the  translation,  and  are  also  put  together  in  the  appendix. 

76 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Book  of  Proverbs  did  not  exhaust  the  extant  liter- 
ature of  this  character.  The  collection  represents 
rather  a  selection  of  what  were  considered  the 
best  sayings,  worthy  of  being  ascribed  to  a  king 
typifying  wisdom.  From  the  statement  in  the 
Book  of  Kings  that  Solomon  "spoke  three  thousand 
proverbs,  and  his  songs  were  a  thousand  and  five,  "^^ 
which  already  assumes  the  existence  of  the  tra- 
dition that  ascribed  Proverbs  and  the  Song  of 
Songs  to  the  king,  we  may  be  permitted  to  con- 
clude that  there  were  other  literary  productions 
extant  in  the  post-exilic  period  of  a  gnomic  and 
lyrical  character.  Because  some  such  compositions 
came  to  be  ascribed  to  Solomon,  it  was  concluded 
with  the  naivete  characteristic  of  an  entirely  un- 
critical age  that  all  such  Hterature  was  the  work  of 
Solomon.  Not  satisfied  with  this,  some  glossater 
to  the  Book  of  Kings  went  his  predecessors  one 
better  and  asserted  ad  majorem  gloriam  regis  that 
the  extant  animal  and  tree  fables  were  also  of 
Solomonic  origin. ^^  The  passage  in  the  Book  of 
Kings  is  manifestly  later  than  the  period  when  a 
collection  of  Proverbs  existed  which  was  ascribed 
to  Solomon.  That  collection  was  not  necessarily  the 
one  in  our  present  Book  of  Proverbs,  which  would 
bring  us  down  into  the  third  century,  B.C.,  but  was 
at  all  events  a  portion  of  it.     We  must  assume  the 


"  I  Kings  V.  12. 

^  I  Kings  V.  13.  "He  spoke  of  trees  from  the  cedar  of  Lebanon  to  the 
hyssop  springing  from  the  wall;  also  of  beasts,  fowl,  creeping  things  and  fishes." 
The  passage  is  interesting  as  pointing  at  that  time  to  the  spread  of  such  animal 
and  tree  fables  from  their  probable  birthplace  in  distant  India. 

77 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

existence  of  such  a  collection  ascribed  to  Solomon, 
prior  to  the  insertion  of  sayings  and  maxims  of  the 
same  general  character  in  another  book  of  which 
likewise  Solomon  was   reputed  to  be  the  author. 

These  considerations  lead  us  to  the  period 
after  the  compilation  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs  for 
the  addition  of  such  sayings  to  the  Book  of  Kohe- 
leth.  It  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  the  original 
Book  of  Koheleth  is  also  later  than  Proverbs,  but 
the  probabilities  are  strongly  in  favor  of  this  conclu- 
sion, which  is  confirmed  from  other  considerations. 
At  all  events,  before  these  maxims  and  sayings 
were  inserted,  the  tradition  had  been  established 
that  Koheleth  was  Solomon,  as  had  also  the  belief 
that  Solomon  as  the  wise  king  was  associated 
with  the  writing  of  proverbs  to  such  an  extent  that 
all  proverbial  sayings  were  looked  upon  as  Solo- 
monic, in  the  same  sense  that  all  laws  came  to  be 
regarded  as  Mosaic.  So  close  was  the  association 
between  Solomon  and  the  inditing  of  maxims, 
especially  such  as  illustrated  wisdom  from  various 
angles,  that  it  not  only  seemed  perfectly  natural 
to  add  maxims  to  a  book  ascribed  to  the  wise  king, 
but  such  additions  furnished  to  a  later  but  still 
uncritical  age  a  further  proof  of  the  Solomonic 
authorship  of  the  book  into  which  they  were 
inserted.  The  "vicious  circle"  which  is  part  and 
parcel  of  an  uncritical  age  is  thus  made  complete. 

Now,  how  can  we  be  sure  that  the  maxims 
scattered  through  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes  actually 
represent  later  additions,  made  to  strengthen  the 

78 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

authenticity  of  the  Solomonic  authorship  and  to 
make  the  teachings  of  the  book  more  palatable  to 
the  orthodox  believers  in  a  good  world  created  by 
a  power  that  rewards  the  virtuous  and  punishes 
the  evil-doer?  What  is  the  criterion  for  separating 
the  original  components  of  the  book  of  Koheleth 
from  the  elements  subsequently  added?  In  the 
case  of  the  insertions  intended  to  make  the  picture 
of  Solomon  conform  to  the  type  of  the  virtuous  and 
god-fearing  king  and,  incidentally,  also  to  coun- 
teract the  heretical  views  and  implications  of  the 
book,  the  general  criterion  is  the  manifest  incon- 
sistency of  the  utterances  of  Koheleth  with  the 
pious  reflections  that  were  added  whenever  Kohe- 
leth gave  voice  to  some  particularly  striking  or 
shocking  sentiment.  The  same  author  could  not 
rail  against  prevailing  wickedness  and  injustice, 
and  in  the  same  breath  declare  that  a  just  Provi- 
dence presides  over  the  universe.  The  pessimist 
who  sees  black  everywhere  cannot  be  the  same  as 
the  one  who  finds  everything  good  and  beautiful. 
The  skeptic  who  asserts  that  all — the  good  and  bad 
alike — share  a  common  fate  (ix.  2)  cannot  be  iden- 
tical with  the  pious  believer  who  is  confident  that 
God  will  bring  man  to  judgment  for  all  his  acts, 
the  hidden  and  the  manifest  (xi.  9  and  xii.  14). 

For  the  other  class  of  insertions,  enlarging 
upon  the  aspects  and  qualities  of  wisdom,  and  in 
other  ways  elaborating  and  modifying  Koheleth's 
reasonings  and  conclusions,  the  test  is  to  be  found 
chiefly  in  the  interruption  of  the  context  or  of  the 

79 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

argument,  and  secondly,  in  the  form  of  the  maxims 
and  sayings,  which  marks  them  off  sharply  from 
the  original  text.  So,  for  instance,  in  the  first  chap- 
ter we  have  an  example  of  a  saying  added  after 
the  refrain  that  "all  is  vanity  and  chasing  after 
wind."    After  the  fourteenth  verse  we  read 

"The  crooked  cannot  be  straightened, 
And  the  lacking  cannot  be  supplied." 

The  maxim  has  no  direct  connection  with  the 
thought  expressed  by  Koheleth,  who  is  arguing 
that  it  is  foolish  to  investigate  the  mysteries  of 
the  universe.  The  impulse  to  do  so  is  a  "sorry 
business,"  for  it  merely  leads  one  to  see  the  vanity 
of  all  things.  To  add  that  things  cannot  be  changed 
is  a  reflection  to  which  Koheleth  would  probably 
have  assented,  but  it  takes  us  away  from  his  main 
thought,  to  wit,  that  investigation  by  itself  shows 
that  all  things  in  this  world  are  empty  bubbles. 

When  a  little  further  on  (ii.  1 3) ,  Koheleth  reaches 
the  conclusion  that  wisdom  seems  to  be  better  than 
foolishness,  at  least  to  the  extent  that  light  is  pref- 
erable to  darkness,  the  insertion  of  a  saying 

"The  wise  man  has  his  eyes  in  his  head, 
But  the  fool  walks  in  darkness," 

giving  expression  to  the  somewhat  trite  thought 
that  a  wise  man  sees  what  he  is  doing,  whereas  the 
foolish  one  gropes  about,  furnishes  an  illustration 
to  the  sentiment  just  expressed,  but  it  interrupts 
the  context.  The  point  which  Koheleth  urges  is 
that  the  advantage  of  wisdom  over  folly  is  only 

80 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

an  apparent  superiority,  for  the  fool  and  the  wise 
man  share  the  same  fate.  Both  are  forgotten  and 
the  one  dies  just  as  does  the  other. 

Almost  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  thought 
of  Koheleth  is  another  insertion  which  we  find  in 
the  fourth  chapter,  where  he  concludes  that  the 
endeavor  of  a  man  to  outstrip  his  neighbor  is  like- 
wise "vanity  and  a  chasing  after  wind."  The 
saying  that  follows    (iv.   5) 

"The  fool  folds  his  hands  and  consumes  his  own  flesh" 

is  entirely  out  of  the  picture,  whereas  the  next 
verse  that  "a  handful  of  quiet  is  better  than  two 
handfuls  in  toil  and  chasing  after  wind,"  is  fully  in 
keeping  with  the  context.  The  interruption  of  the 
thought  is  no  less  apparent  in  the  saying  (vi.  7) 

"All  the  toil  of  a  man  is  for  his  mouth, 
And  yet  the  appetite  is  never  satisfied," 

which  has  no  connection  with  what  precedes  or 
with  what  follows.  Koheleth  has  been  trying  to 
show  that  a  large  family  and  a  long  life  offer  no 
compensation,  unless  one  has  enjoyed  oneself  during 
the  span  of  one's  existence.  The  reflection  that  one 
cannot  get  enough  enjoyment  is  rather  in  the  nature 
of  an  antidote  to  the  doctrine  of  pleasure  as  the 
main  thing  in  life,  and  shows  that  the  commentator 
who  added  this  saying  was  in  sympathy  with  the 
point  of  view  represented  by  the  one  (or  by  those) 
who  added  the  pious  comments  in  order  to  give 
an  orthodox  turn  to  Koheleth's  teachings.  Im- 
mediately after  the  inserted  saying,  the   genuine 

6  81 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Koheleth  once   more   appears   with  his  question, 
"What  is  the  advantage  of  being  wise?"  (vi.  8.) 

In  many  cases,  the  insertions  betray  them- 
selves as  such  by  being  manifestly  suggested 
through  a  purely  incidental  reference  to  wisdom 
in  contrast  to  foolishness.  The  commentator,  who 
had  perhaps  a  collection  of  proverbs  before  him, 
could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  selecting  some 
sayings  in  further  illustration,  though  not  infre- 
quently the  supposed  "illustration"  carries  us 
away  from  the  thought  that  Koheleth  had  in  mind. 
So,  e.g.,  Koheleth  suggests  in  a  pessimistic  mood 
that  the  end  of  life  is  better  than  the  beginning 
(vii.  8),  and  argues  further  that  it  is  better  to  go 
to  a  funeral  than  to  a  banquet,  for  in  a  house  of 
mourning  you  may  hear  some  reasonable  talk, 
whereas  in  a  house  of  mirth  you  encounter  fools 
(vii.  2  and  4).  Our  commentator,  intent  upon 
adding  maxims  in  illustration  or  in  supposed  illus- 
tration of  the  text,  steps  in  at  this  point  (vii.  5-6) 

"It  is  better  to  hear  the  rebuke  of  a  wise  man, 
than  to  listen  to  the  praise  of  fools. 
For  as  the  crackling  of  thorns  under  a  pot, 
so  is  the  laughter  of  fools." 

Koheleth  has  not  been  speaking  of  "rebuke"  or 
"praise,"  nor  is  he  concerned  at  this  point  with 
showing  the  foolishness  of  fools.  He  takes  that  for 
granted.  Entirely  out  of  the  picture  is  the  next 
insertion  which  follows   (vii.  7) 

"Extortion  deprives  a  wise  man  of  reason 
and  a  bribe  corrupts  the  mind," 

82 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

clearly  superinduced  because  of  the  reference  to 
the  wise  man  who  may  be  found  in  a  house  of 
mourning  (vii.  4).  Again,  when  Koheleth,  con- 
tinuing his  train  of  thought  (vii.  8),  declares  that 
the  end  of  things  is  better  than  the  beginning, 
there  is  no  connection  whatsoever  with  the  two 
insertions  (vii.  8^-9) 

{a)  "Better  patience  than  haughtiness" 
(Jb)  "Do  not  be  prone  to  anger, 

for  anger  endures  [only]  in  the  bosom  of  fools." 

In  the  same  chapter  we  find  three  further  sayings 
in  proof  of  the  superiority  of  wisdom,  which  inter- 
rupt the  context.  They  have  not  the  slightest  con- 
nection with  either  Koheleth's  arguments  or  with 
his  conclusions,  and  are  suggested  by  purely  inci- 
dental references  to  wisdom 

"Wisdom  is  better  ^^  than  an  inheritance," 
and  an  advantage  to  the  living"  (vii.  11). 
"For  the  protection  of  wisdom  is  (as  strong) as  the  protection 
of  silver, 
And  the  advantage  of  knowledge  '""  is  that  it  gives  life  to 
those  who  possess  it"  (vii.  12). 
"Wisdom  makes  a  wise  man  stronger  than  the  ten  rulers  of  a 
city"  (vii.  19). 

Again,  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  chapter  which 
advises  caution  in  one's  attitude  towards  a  king 
who  will  always  do  what  he  likes,  the  "maxim" 
commentator  takes  advantage  of  the  advice,  which 


*^  For  this  translation,  see  the  comment  to  the  passage. 
^"A  variant  adds  "wisdom." 

83 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

is  offered  in  an  ironical  and  somewhat  cynical 
spirit,  to  insert  two  sayings  (viii.  i) 

{a)  "Who  is  like  the  wise  man,  and  who  knows 
[as  he  does]  the  explanation  of  a  matter?" 

{b)  "The  wisdom  of  a  man  illumines  his  face, 

And  the  coarseness  of  his  countenance  is  changed." 

At  the  end  of  the  ninth  chapter,  a  series  of  such 
sayings  is  inserted  which  carries  us  over  into  the 
tenth  chapter.  They  are  suggested  by  Koheleth's 
argument  that  wisdom  is  better  than  strength, 
even  though  the  wise  man  be  poor  and  his  words 
be  not  heeded.  The  commentator  cannot  resist 
the  temptation  to  add  (ix.  17-x,  3): 

{a)  "The  words  of  the  wise,  though  spoken  quietly,  are 
better  than  the  loud  cry  of  an  arch-fool." 

{b)  "Better  is  wisdom  than  weapons." 

{c)  "A  dead  fly  spoils  the  perfumer's  precious  oil."*^ 

{d)  "A  little  foolishness  annuls  wisdom." 

{e)  "A  wise  man's  mind  is  on  his  right  side, 
but  a  fool's  mind  is  on  his  left." 

(/)  "When  a  fool  struts  in  his  senseless  way, 
he  says  of  everyone  else  'he  is  a  fool.' " 

In  this  same  chapter,  we  encounter  another 
series  of  no  less  than  nine  sayings  (x.  8-15),  en- 
tirely in  the  style  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  some 
dealing  with  wisdom,  others  with  what  one  might 
call  practical  advice  of  a  somewhat  philistine 
character.^2    The  sayings  so  manifestly  interrupt 


^^  To  suggest  that  a  fool  can  vitiate  the  constructive  activity  of  a 
wise  man. 

^2  They  will  be  found  grouped  together  in  the  Appendix. 

84 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  context  that,  unless  we  remove  them  altogether, 
we  cannot  follow  the  argument  of  Koheleth,  which 
is  concerned  with  the  vanity  to  be  found  in  gover- 
mental  affairs.  There  is  another  insertion  of  the 
same  character  at  the  end  of  the  chapter  (x.  i8) 

"Through  neglect,  the  beamwork  sinks, 
And  through  idleness,  the  house  leaks." 

likewise  in  no  connection  with  what  precedes  or 
follows. 

In  addition,  someone,  anxious  to  inculcate 
moderation  in  feasting,  incidental  to  the  contrast 
set  forth  by  Koheleth  between  proper  merriment 
and  riotous  living  adds : 

"A  feast  is  made  for  laughter, 
With  wine  to  enliven  life, 
and  [sufficient]  money  to  provide  for  everything."    (x.  19.) 

As  a  result,  only  seven  of  the  twenty  verses  of  this 
chapter  form  part  of  the  original  text — an  illustra- 
tion of  the  extent  to  which  the  book  of  Koheleth 
was  subject  to  enlargement  and  modification,  in 
the  desire  to  make  it  conform  to  the  traditional 
picture  and  to  the  teachings  of  a  virtuous  and 
wise  king,  who  was  supposed  to  be  the  author. 

Once  more  we  encounter  practical  advice  in 
the  eleventh  chapter  (xi.  3-4) 

{a)  "If  the  clouds  be  filled  with  rain, 

they  will  empty  themselves  on  earth." 

{h)  "If  a  tree  falls  to  the  south,  or  to  the  north,  where  the 
tree  falls,  there  it  remains." 

(c)  "A  wind  observer  does  not  sow. 

And  a  cloud  gazer  does  not  harvest." 


A  GENTLE  Cl^NIC 

The  similarity  of  these  sayings  with  those  in  the 
tenth  chapter  (8-15  and  18)  suggests  that  they  are 
extracts  from  one  and  the  same  collection,  whereas 
in  chapters  seven  and  eight  and  in  the  appendix 
to  the  book  (xii,  9-14)  in  which  miscellaneous  com- 
ments and  reflections  are  introduced,^^  the  "max- 
im" commentator  appears  to  draw  from  a  collec- 
tion of  sayings,  dealing  primarily  with  the  aspects 
of  wisdom,  and  of  which  the  last  quotation : 

"The  words  of  the  wise  are  as  goads, 
And  collections  are  as  nails  driven  with  a  mace"  (xii.  ii) 

may  represent  either  the  introduction  or  the  colo- 
phon. 

The  maxims  are  thus  of  two  kinds,  vacillating 
between  practical  advice  and  the  praise  of  wisdom, 
and  extracted,  perhaps,  from  two  collections, 
though  there  is  no  inherent  reason  why  one  col- 
lection should  not  have  contained  both  kinds  of 
sayings. 

XI 

THE  POPULARITY  OF  KOHELETH 

We  have  thus  succeeded  in  separating  from 
the  original  text  two  distinct  classes  of  additions, 
one  series  in  illustration  of  the  traditional  Solo- 
mon as  the  pious  and  God-fearing  king,  the  other 
showing  Solomon  as  the  wise  king.  Through  these 
two  classes  of  insertions  the  picture  of  Solomon  as 
the  reputed  author  of  the  book  is  made  to  conform 
to  that  of  the  Solomon  of  tradition.  What  is  of  even 


^  See  the  comments  on  these  verses  p.  240  et  seq. 
86 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

greater  Import,  the  effect  of  the  teachings  in  the 
genuine  and  original  portions  of  the  book  is  coun- 
teracted by  the  pious  reflections  and  by  good  or- 
thodox maxims  inculcating  wisdom,  caution,  the 
exercise  of  practical  judgment,  of  moderation  and 
the  practice  of  other  conservative  and  "safe" 
virtues.  The  book  of  Koheleth  was  thus  given  the 
stamp  of  orthodoxy,  and  with  this  stamp  could 
without  risk  be  included  in  a  sacred  collection. 

We  have  still  to  consider  a  pertinent  question 
that  might  be  raised  at  this  point.  Why  did  pious 
commentators  and  collectors  of  sayings  occupy 
themselves  at  all  with  the  book.^  If  Koheleth's 
teachings  were  objectionable  or  heretical,  why  was 
the  book  not  suppressed  or  allowed  to  die  a  natural 
death  by  being  left  severely  alone?  Why  did  its 
opponents  decide  to  advertise  the  book  by  attack- 
ing it?  The  answer  is  that  Koheleth  at  the  time  of 
its  appearance  must  have  aroused  too  much  com- 
ment to  be  ignored.  It  could  not  be  suppressed 
because  it  became  too  popular,  just  as  the  popular 
traditions  about  Creation,  about  the  Deluge,  and 
about  the  patriarchal  days,  circulating  among  the 
people,  could  not  be  suppressed,  and  were  therefore 
embodied  by  pious  writers,  who  gave  to  the  tales 
an  interpretation  in  the  spirit  of  the  teachings  of 
the  Hebrew  prophets. 

The  book  of  Koheleth  belongs,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  the  age  when  an  author  was  associated 
with  a  production,  to  the  extent  that  a  writer 
would   be  tempted   to  trade  on   the   prominence 

87 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

acquired  by  a  figure  of  the  past,  embellished  by- 
legend  and  tradition,  so  as  to  secure  a  wider  hear- 
ing for  what  he  had  to  say.  The  device  of  the  author 
of  our  book  to  pass  himself  off  under  the  nom  de 
-plume  of  Koheleth  as  Solomon  must  have  created 
for  his  production  something  that  corresponded  to 
a  "mild  sensation"  in  our  days.  The  device  must 
have  had  an  effect  to  be  compared  to  a  "headliner" 
in  a  modern  newspaper,  announcing  to  its  readers : 
"Discovery  of  a  lost  Work  of  King  Solomon.  Old 
Wiseacre  says  that  'All  is  Vanity.'  "  Add  to  this 
the  novelty  of  the  point  of  view  from  which  Kohe- 
leth treated  the  activities  and  experiences  of  life, 
its  breezy  and  unconventional  tone,  its  bold  attack 
upon  the  conventional  beliefs  of  the  day,  its  expos- 
ure of  the  foibles  of  men  and  of  the  evils  of  his 
times,  and  we  have  a  combination  that  gave  to  the 
book  an  irresistible  charm  w^hich  must  have  affected 
even  those  to  whom  the  teachings  were  distasteful. 
At  all  events,  Koheleth  aroused  a  popularity  that 
made  it  difficult  if  not  impossible  for  those  who 
opposed  the  book  to  suppress  its  fascinating  and 
dangerous  philosophy.  Orthodox  circles  therefore, 
finding  it  impossible  to  kill  the  book,  began  to  busy 
themselves  with  the  endeavor  to  give  a  different  turn 
to  Koheleth's  arguments  by  insertions  that  would 
tone  down  the  skeptical  implications.  Accordingly, 
they  proceeded  to  touch  up  the  portrait  of  the  king 
here  and  there  so  as  to  make  his  features  conform 
to  the  Solomon  of  Jewish  orthodoxy.  With  pious 
comments,  urging  the  fear  of  God,  and  by  emphasiz- 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

ing  the  rewards  that  follow  upon  virtue  and  the  pun- 
ishment for  wrong  doing,  Koheleth  was  actually 
transformed  into  a  pious  king,  and  by  means  of  wise 
saws,  setting  forth  the  advantages  of  wisdom  and 
off  ering  practical  and  sober  advice  for  the  guidance  of 
life,  the  face  of  the  wise  Solomon  was  superimposed 
on  the  now  blurred  features  of  the  original  Koheleth. 
But  even  these  two  classes  of  additions,  exten- 
sive as  they  are,  and  sufficient  to  conceal  entirely 
the  true  nature  of  the  teachings  of  the  book,  do 
not  exhaust  the  modifications  which  Koheleth  in 
the  course  of  time  underwent.  In  order  to  make 
the  book  still  more  palatable,  the  thought  of 
Koheleth  was  elaborated  by  shorter  or  longer  addi- 
tions, and  by  explanatory  comments,  generally  with 
a  further  view  of  diverting  attention  from  the  real 
Koheleth,  whose  conclusions,  even  when  not  specifi- 
cally stated,  do  not  accord  with  these  additions  and 
comments.  Perhaps  the  most  notable  instance  of 
such  an  elaboration  of  Koheleth's  thought,  but 
which  also  takes  oflf  its  sharp  edge,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  third  chapter  where  after  the  author  has  an- 
nounced that  "Everything  has  its  appointed  time 
and  there  is  a  time  [determined!  for  every  occurrence 
under  the  sun"  and  has  illustrated  this  by  adding 

"There  is  a  time  [appointed]  to  be  born,  and  a  time  to  die. 
There  is  a  time  [appointed]  for  planting,  and  a  time  for 
uprooting," 

someone  has  added  a  series  of  no  less  than  twelve 
other  antitheses. ^^     Now,  apart  from  the  inartistic 

"Given  in  full  in  the  commentary,  p.  210,  and  in  the  Appendix,  p.  249. 
89 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

heaping  up  of  illustrations  of  which  a  skillful  writer 
like  Koheleth  would  not  be  guilty,  and  apart  from 
the  repetitions  in  the  list  itself,^^  their  extraneous 
character  is  revealed  by  their  deviation  from  the 
point  which  Koheleth  wishes  to  impress  upon  us. 
He  is  not  interested  in  a  trivial  attempt  to  enumer- 
ate the  contrasts  presented  by  the  experiences  of 
life,  but  in  showing  that  everything  is  foreordained 
to  happen  at  the  time  fixed  for  it.     This  is  made 
evident   by  the   question   which   Koheleth    poses 
(v.  9) — what  is  the  use  of  all  one's  work,   since 
what  is  to  happen  is  bound  to  happen  and  to  take 
place,  moreover,  at  the  very  time  that  God  has 
determined  for  it?    The  time  of  birth  is  fixed,  as  is 
the  time  of  death.    It  is  foreordained  and  not  de- 
pendent upon  man's  will  or  pleasure  when   one 
should  plant,  just  as  the  uprooting,  referring  either 
to  the  pulling  up  of  the  fruit  that  has  ripened  be- 
neath the  soil,  or  perhaps  to  the  destruction  through 
a   storm  or  blight   of  what  has  been  planted,  is 
determined  by  God.    When,  however,  to  these  two 
apt  illustrations,  emphasizing  that  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  things — and  by  implication  also 
what  lies  between — are  predetermined,  irrespective 
of  anything  that  man  may  do,  there  is  added  a  long 
series  of  antitheses  that  merely  represent  contrasts, 

"A  time  to  destroy,  and  a  time  to  repair, 
A  time  to  break  down,  and  a  time  to  build  up, 
A  time  to  weep  and  a  time  to  laugh,"  etc.,  etc.,  ending  with 

"A  time  of  war,  and  a  time  of  peace," 


=^  See  the  comments  to  iii.  3-8. 
90 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  supplement  gives  an  entirely  different  turn  to 
the  chapter,  as  though  Koheleth  had  intended  to 
suggest  the  commonplace  notion  of  "everything 
in  its  season,"  that  there  is  a  proper  time  to  destroy 
and  an  appropriate  time  to  repair,  a  proper  moment 
for  pulling  a  building  down  and  a  proper  occasion 
to  rebuild  it,  a  time  when  war  should  be  declared 
and  a  time  when  peace  ought  to  be  made,  and  the 
like.  What  Koheleth  has  in  mind  is  to  set  forth  the 
doctrine  of  predestination,  which,  though  following 
logically  from  the  conception  of  a  power  in  abso- 
lute control  of  the  universe,  was  regarded  as  most 
unorthodox,  since  it  seemed  to  deprive  man  of 
independent  initiative,  and  left  no  place  for  the 
exercise  of  Divine  justice  in  punishing  the  evil- 
doers and  in  rewarding  the  virtuous.  The  com- 
mentator or  the  several  hands  that  added  the  long 
series  of  antitheses  did  so  with  the  intent  of 
removing  from  the  chapter  the  implication  that 
the  world  is  ruled  by  blind  fate.  So  successful  was 
the  device  that  most  of  the  modern  exegetes  have 
interpreted  Koheleth's  thought  as  showing  that 
everything  has  its  proper  time — thus  missing  the 
entire  point  of  the  real  argument,  which  leads 
logically  to  the  question  (in  verse  9)  as  to  the  fu- 
tility of  all  human  effort. 

Another  addition  of  this  nature,  intended  again 
to  take  off  the  edge  of  Koheleth's  gentle  cynicism, 
occurs  in  the  fourth  chapter,  in  which  he  argues 
that  toil  without  enjoyment  is  particularly  foolish 
when  one  is   all  alone,   unmarried  or   without   a 

91 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

business  partner  to  whom  one  might  become  at- 
tached. For  whom  under  such  circumstances, 
asks  Koheleth  pertinently,  does  one  work  and  de- 
prive oneself  of  the  joy  of  life?  (iv.  8.)  It  is  an  un- 
comfortable question  to  be  put  to  a  philistine  steeped 
in  the  conventionalities  of  the  world  about  him, 
which  proclaims  with  smug  satisfaction  that  honest 
toil  is  essential  to  the  well-being  of  men;  and  so  he 
purposely  misunderstands  the  kernel  of  Koheleth's 
philosophy  and  tries  to  make  us  believe  that  Kohe- 
leth was  merely  railing  against  single  blessedness — 
against  existence  without  a  partner  in  life  or  in 
business.  Our  conventional  moralist  gives  an  en- 
tirely different  turn  to  the  question  which  Koheleth 
puts  by  holding  up  in  sober  fashion  (iv.  9-12)  the 
advantages  of  partnership  over  the  man  who  stands 
alone, 

"Two  are  better  than  one, 
for  they  secure  a  better  return  for  their  toil. 
In  case  they  fall,  the  one  can  lift  his  fellow  up, 
but  if  a  single  person  falls  there  is  none  to  lift  him 
up."     (iv.  9-10.) 

Very  sound  advice  to  the  one  who  wishes  to  go 

into  mercantile  life,  that  he  should  take  a  partner  so 

as  to  be  able  to  do  a  larger  amount  of  business,  and 

in  case  of  failure  to  be  in  a  better  position  to  get  on 

his  feet  again — but,  surely,  that  is  not  the  kind  of 

practical  wisdom  which  Koheleth  had  in  mind.    Our 

moralist  adds,  with  a  suggestion  of  the  advantages 

of  conjugal  partnership, 

"  If  two  sleep  together,  they  get  warm, 
but  how  can  a  single  person  get  warm?"  (iv.  11.) 

92 


A  GEN'TLE  CTNIC 

And  in  order  to  take  us  still  further  away  fronri 
Koheleth's  question  he  urges  that  in  case  of  an 
attack,  two  have  a  better  chance  of  standing 
against  one,  and  that  in  such  a  three-cornered 
fight  a  draw  is  the  worst  that  can  happen. 

"If  some  one  attacks,  there  are  two  to  withstand, 
And  a  triple  cord  is  not  easily  snapped."     (iv.  12.) 

Therefore,  get  married,  so  as  to  have  someone  to 
work  for,  and  take  a  business  partner  so  as  to 
stimulate  your  toil,  whereas  what  Koheleth  wants 
to  impress  on  us  is  that  a  life  of  toil,  even  though 
one  has  a  hundred  children  (vi.  3),  is  foolish  with- 
out enjoyment.  Why  work  in  order  to  leave  one's 
fortune  to  someone  who  has  not  toiled  for  it  (ii.  21)  .^ 

We  have  already  called  attention  to  little 
comments  in  which  the  style  of  Koheleth  is  con- 
sciously imitated, ^^  so  as  to  strengthen  the  impres- 
sion that  our  author  is  really  orthodox  and  only 
appears  to  argue  on  the  other  side  so  as  to  make 
the  orthodox  answer  all  the  more  effective.  By  the 
side  of  such  comments,  we  have  others  which  are 
intended  to  give  a  serious  turn  to  what  was  set 
forth  by  Koheleth  in  an  ironical  spirit, 

Koheleth  tells  us  (viii.  2-3)  to  be  careful  in 
dealing  with  a  king.  Do  what  he  commands, 
instead  of  rushing  to  him  to  complain,  for  a  king 
will  always  do  what  he  pleases.  No  one  can  ask  a 
king  "What  art  thou  doing?"  By  means  of  a  small 
comment,  "because  of  the  oath  of  God"    (inserted 

^^  e.g.,  iii.  17.    See  above,  p.  75. 
93 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

at  the  close  of  verse  2),  the  impression  is  conveyed 
that  Koheleth  advises  one  to  obey  the  king  because 
one  has  sworn  allegiance  to  him  in  God's  name. 
Similarly,  by  adding  to  Koheleth's  caution  against 
lodging  a  complaint  with  a  king,  because  it  is  use- 
less, a  small  comment,  "do  not  plead  a  bad  cause" 
(inserted  at  the  close  of  verse  3),  the  irony  of  the 
advice  is  lost,  and  an  entirely  different  impression 
conveyed  from  the  one  which  Koheleth  had  in  mind. 

XII 

APOLOGIZING  FOR  KOHELETH 

Despite  all  these  additions,  calculated  to 
amend  the  character  of  the  book,  to  convert  its 
skepticism  and  cynicism  into  orthodoxy  and  con- 
ventional morality,  to  make  it  appear  that  the 
author  was  virtuous  and  God-fearing  and  that, 
appearances  to  the  contrary,  the  entire  aim  of  the 
book  was  to  put  together  a  series  of  maxims  for 
the  guidance  of  life  of  the  same  general  character 
as  the  Book  of  Proverbs — despite  all  this,  a  doubt 
must  have  remained  in  the  minds  of  the  orthodox 
manipulators  whether  they  had  wholly  succeeded 
in  their  aim,  for  at  the  close  of  the  book  a  number 
of  statements  are  added  the  apologetic  character  of 
some  of  which  is  unmistakable.  We  have  already 
considered  two  which  are  due  to  the  "pious" 
and  "maxim"  commentators."^  Besides  these, 
there  are  three  others  the  purpose  of  which  is  to 
assure  the  reader  that  Koheleth  aimed  to  be  a 

"  See  above,  p.  73  and  p.  86. 

94 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

real  teacher,  and  that  if  some  things  in  the  book 
appeared  strange  and  bold,  one  must  remember 
that  he  was  frank  and  that  after  all  books  must 
not  be  taken  too  seriously,  for  an  author  writes 
because  it  gives  him  pleasure  to  do  so.  We  must 
assume  that  each  of  these  additions  was  made 
separately,  and  that  taken  together  they  represent 
somewhat  varying  opinions  about  Koheleth,  though 
all  are  conceived  in  a  more  or  less  apologetic  spirit. 
The  first  addition  (xii.  9),  after  stating  that  Kohe- 
leth made  other  collections  of  proverbs,^^  and  thus 
implying  the  identity  of  Koheleth  with  Solomon, 
as  a  compiler  of  proverbs,   reads 

"Furthermore,  Koheleth  was  a  wise  man  and  in  other  ways 
taught  people,  compiling  and  searching." 

He  is,  therefore,  a  safe  guide  to  follow.  One  must 
not  suspect  his  orthodoxy,  but  the  very  emphasis 
placed  on  the  assurance  that  he  is  "all  right," 
shows  that  some  persons  continued  to  shake  their 
heads.  A  second  hand  found  it  necessary  to  dis- 
tinguish between  what  he  wrote  and  the  style  in 
which  he  wrote. 

"Koheleth  aimed  at  a  pleasant  style  with  straightforward 
expression."     (Verse  10.) 

The  phrase  which  conveys  the  idea  of  Koheleth's 
being  frank  is  somewhat  vague — and  no  doubt 
intentionally    so — and    therefore    someone,    who 

'^In  agreement  with  the  Solomonic  tradition,  I  Kings  v.  12,  and 
which  shows  again  incidentally  that  this  addition  to  Koheleth  was  made 
after  the  completion  of  our  Book  of  Proverbs,  to  which  it  no  doubt  refers. 

95 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

perhaps  did  not  approve  of  thus  apologizing  for 
Koheleth  and  who  felt  that  the  book  could  stand 
on  its  own  merits,  added  "he  spoke  the  truth." 
It  must  remain,  of  course,  an  open  question  whether 
the  one  who  made  this  addition  sympathized 
with  Koheleth  in  its  original  form,  or  whether  he 
felt  sufficient  confidence  in  the  changes  that  had 
been  made  to  give  the  book  a  different  character, 
so  as  to  assure  the  reader  that  one  is  perfectly  safe 
in  looking  upon  the  book  as  conveying  "the  truth," 
without  any  attempt  at  merely  fine  writing.  Most 
interesting  of  all  is  the  third  addition,  again  in 
conscious  imitation  of  the  style  of  Koheleth,^^  so 
as  to  strengthen  the  impression  of  authenticity. 

"Furthermore,  my  son,  beware   of   the   writing   of   many 
books  without  end 
And  much  discussion  [?]  ^°  is  a  weariness  of  the  flesh." 

The  purpose  is  clearly  to  suggest  to  those  who 
might  have  some  lingering  doubts  as  to  the  ortho- 
doxy of  Koheleth  even  in  its  final  and  entirely 
modified  form,  that  after  all  a  book  is  07ily  a  book. 
The  written  word  must  not  be  regarded  as  having 
the  same  value  as  the  spoken  one,  for  a  man  speaks 
when  he  has  something  to  say,  whereas  a  man 
may  write  because  he  is  anxious  to  say  something. 
There  are  so  many  books  in  the  world,  presenting 
the  same  subject  from  different  points  of  view,  that 

^^  As  above,  p.  75. 

*"  The  exact  meaning  of  the  term  which  occurs  only  in  this  passage 
is  not  certain.  It  is  generally  rendered  "study"  or  "devotion  to  study." 
The  parallelism  with  "writing"  suggests  rather  the  meaning  "talk,"  or 
"discussion." 

96 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

they  surely  cannot  all  be  right.  Therefore — do 
not  take  books  too  seriously,  and  be  careful  be- 
fore you  decide  to  add  another  to  the  endless  list. 
If  you  find  some  things  In  Koheleth  that  still  im- 
press you  as  novel  and  not  in  accord  with  the  teach- 
ings of  the  old-time  religion  which  was  good  enough 
for  your  parents  and  ought  to  be  good  enough  for 
you,  remember  that  Koheleth  was  only — an  au- 
thor. Impelled  by  the  literary  impulse  to  do  what 
you  should  avoid  doing,  adding  another  book  to 
the  many  that  already  burden  mankind.  Also,  do 
not  indulge  in  too  much  talk,  for  it  leads  nowhere 
and  merely  wears  one  out.  Koheleth,  to  be  sure, 
might  have  approved  of  such  a  sentiment,  but 
that  would  merely  prove  that  the  cynic  and  the 
advocate  of  the  status  quo  occasionally  meet. 

"  Duo  quum  faciunt  idem,  nan  est  idem." 

The  reflection  against  the  foolishness  of  too  much 
talk  in  Koheleth's  mouth  would  have  had  the  usual 
touch  of  irony,  whereas  to  the  commentator  who 
added  it  it  was  a  thought  to  be  taken  most  seri- 
ously. If  Koheleth  had  wished  to  give  expression 
to  the  sentiment  he  would  have  found  a  place  for  it 
in  the  body  of  the  book.  Its  position  after  the 
final  verdict,"  all  is  vanity,"  which  is  clearly  the  end 
of  the  book,  shows  that  it  is  an  addition,  as  also 
that  it  is  to  be  taken  in  a  serious  spirit,  as  a  fur- 
ther warning  against  attaching  too  much  impor- 
tance to  mere  writing  and  discussion.  The  thing  to 
do  Is,  as  the  pious  commentator  tells  us,   "Fear 

7  97 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

God  and  keep  his  commandments."  Read  Kohe- 
leth  if  you  will,  and  if  you  are  not  fully  convinced  of 
Koheleth's orthodoxy,  don't  enter  into  further  argu- 
ments, but  follow  the  dictates  of  the  established  reli- 
gion. Castyour  doubts  to  the  wind  and  "  fear  God." 
We  are  fortunate  in  having  the  actual  proof 
that  despite  all  attempts  to  alter  the  tone  and 
character  of  the  book,  its  orthodoxy  continued  to 
be  open  to  suspicion  a  century  before  the  book  was 
admitted  into  the  canon.  The  vast  compilation  of 
discussions  on  the  Jewish  laws  and  ceremonialism 
that  took  place  in  the  schools  of  the  Rabbis  in 
Babylonia  and  Palestine  and  known  as  the  Talmud®^ 
contains  a  discussion ^^  between  the  schools  of  Hillel 
and  Shammai — two  Rabbis  who  flourished  in  the 
generation  before  Jesus — in  regard  to  the  book  of 
Koheleth.  The  Shammai  school  objected  to  the 
book  as  not  sacred  because  in  advocating  (xi.  9) 
that  one  should  follow  "the  inclinations  of  one's 
mind  and  the  sight  of  one's  eyes, "  it  contradicted 
the  caution  expressed  in  Numbers  xv.  39,  "  Seek 
not  after  your  heart  and  your  eyes";  but  the  Hil- 
lel school  pointed  to  the  frequent  injunction,  e.g., 
V.  6  and  xii.  13  to  "fear  God"  as  proof  of  the 
piety  of  the  author.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  those  who  opposed  the  canonization  of  the 
book  quoted  genuine  passages,  whereas  the  proofs 
for  the  other  side  rested  upon  the  additions  that 

"  See  for  a  general  view  of  the  Talmud,  the  monographs  by  Emanuel 
Deutsch  and  Arsene  Darmesteter,  published  by  the  American  Jewish  Pub- 
lication Society. 

«2  Talmud  Babli.,  Sabbath  30  a-b  and  Megillah  7  a. 

98 


A   GENTLE  CTNIC 

were  made  with  the  very  aim  of  counteracting  the 
objectionable  teachings.  The  discussion  in  the 
Talmud  is  of  value  to  us  in  proving  that,  in  the 
century  before  this  era,  all  the  additions  had  been 
made  and  that  in  this  uncritical  age  the  superim- 
posed parts  were  looked  upon  as  genuine.  The 
book  was  regarded  as  a  unit,  every  word  of  which 
as  it  stands  was  supposed  to  have  been  written  by 
Solomon.  The  contradictions  in  the  book,  how- 
ever, were  so  glaring  that  even  pious  Rabbis  could 
not  close  their  eyes  to  them,  but  it  was  regarded  as 
sufficient  to  counterbalance  the  unorthodox  ut- 
terances by  the  pious  reflections  that  had  been 
superimposed.  Another  indication  that  the  con- 
sciences of  the  pious  were  not  fully  convinced  of 
the  orthodox  character  of  the  book  is  to  be  found 
in  the  attempts  to  give  a  symbolical  interpreta- 
tion to  Koheleth.  The  theological  exegetes  did  not 
go  so  far  as  in  the  case  of  the  Song  of  Songs,  the 
secular  character  of  which  was  too  obvious  to  be 
overlooked,  and  which  could  only  be  accepted  as 
sacred  by  being  regarded  as  an  allegory  with 
the  Beloved  viewed  as  Israel  and  the  lover  as 
Yahweh — but  in  the  Aramaic  text  of  Koheleth, 
which  is  a  paraphrase  rather  than  a  translation, 
we  find  the  tendency  throughout  to  give  to  the 
worldly  advice  of  Koheleth  a  symbolical  and 
semi-mystical  interpretation.  "Eat,  drink  and  be 
merry,"  becomes  a  command  to  rejoice  in  the 
law  of  God  and  to  walk  in  his  ways.  The  wine  is 
interpreted    as    the    mystic  drink   hidden   in   the 

99 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

Garden  of  Eden  of  which  man  was  deprived  by  his 
disobedience.  The  food  is  the  charity  to  be  given 
to  the  poor.  "  Looking  upon  good, "  which  to  Kohe- 
leth  means  "having  a  good  time,"  becomes  an  in- 
junction to  show  one's  soul  as  good  and  pure  before 
men,  to  walk  in  the  right  path  as  the  means  of 
securing  a  good  reward  for  one's  labors.  In  the 
course  of  this  transformation  of  the  book  into  an 
allegory,  teaching  obedience  to  God's  commands, 
all  references  to  worldly  pleasures  become  a  dis- 
guise for  spiritual  joys,  cynical  reflections  on  the 
vanity  of  life  become  invitations  to  seek  the  salva- 
tion of  the  soul,  and  even  denunciations  of  injus- 
tice in  the  world  are  given  a  semi-mystical  interpre- 
tation. The  symbolism  is  carried  through  to  the 
last  chapter  which  instead  of  being  regarded  as 
an  impressive  and  original  description  of  the  com- 
ing of  old  age  is  interpreted  as  an  allegorical  pic- 
ture of  Israel's  history.  ^^  The  days  of  youth 
which  Koheleth  says  are  made  for  enjoyment  are 
the  days  of  Israel's  prosperity,  while  the  evil  days 
by  which  Koheleth  means  old  age  and  death 
symbolize  the  period  of  the  Babylonian  Exile;  and 
so  throughout  the  chapter.  All  this  shows  that 
even  after  the  canon  of  the  Old  Testament  had 
been  fixed  and  the  Book  of  Koheleth  had  been 
accepted  as  sacred,  a  lingering  doubt  remained 
as  to  its  orthodoxy  which  could  only  be  dispelled 

"  So  in  the  Introduction  to  the  Midrash  {i.e.,  the  Rabbinical  homily) 
on  the  Book  of  Lamentations.  This  Midrash  also  records  the  attempt  to 
set  the  book  aside  because  it  contained  utterances  bordering  on  heresy. 
("Midrash  Koheleth"  to  i.  3  and  to  xi.  9.) 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

by  the  application  of  the  allegorical  method,  such 
as  a  writer  like  Philo,  the  Jewish  philosopher  of 
Alexandria  who  flourished  about  the  time  of  Jesus, 
applied  to  the  entire  Old  Testament.  By  such  a 
method,  it  was  evident,  all  the  strange  teachings 
of  a  supposedly  sacred  book  could  be  given  an 
interpretation  in  accord  with  the  strictest  ortho- 
doxy. The  book  was  thus  saved  for  the  Jewish 
and  Christian  church  but,  as  we  have  seen,  at 
the  expense  of  a  complete  transformation  of  its 
real  teachings.  Every  step  that  was  taken  in  the 
direction  of  making  it  worthy  of  a  place  in  a 
sacred  collection  of  orthodox  writings  was  also  a 
step  away  from  the  correct  interpretation  of 
Koheleth's  thought.  For  all  that,  we  should  be 
grateful  to  the  many  hands  which  manipulated  the 
book  in  the  interests  of  Jewish  orthodoxy,  as  also  for 
the  success  of  their  efforts,  for  without  this  success- 
ful distortion  of  the  book  it  would  in  all  probability 
have  been  entirely  lost,  as  no  doubt  other  produc- 
tions were  lost,  and  the  world  would  have  been  the 
poorer  for  a  piece  of  literature  that  it  could  ill  afford 
to  spare.  Koheleth  is  the  most  fascinating  book  in 
the  Old  Testament,  as  the  Book  of  Job  is  the  most 
profound,  and  the  Song  of  Songs  the  most  charming. 

XIII 
TWO  QUESTIONS  REGARDING  KOHELETH 

Two  questions  may  be  raised  by  readers,  espe- 
cially by  such  as  have  been  accustomed  to  look 
upon  the  book  of  Koheleth  as  a  unit,  and  to  whom 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

this  historical  and  critical  manner  of  treating 
books  of  a  sacred  collection  may  be  somewhat 
novel  and  possibly  startling.  These  must  now  be 
considered.  Is  it  really  necessary  to  assume  that  the 
"additions"  to  the  kernel  of  the  book,  as  above  set 
forth,  were  made  by  someone  other  than  the  author, 
and  secondly,  if  we  accept  the  implications  of  the 
critical  method  in  studying  Biblical  books  what 
becomes  of  their  supposedly  sacred  character? 
How  can  Koheleth  be  regarded  as  part  of  a  sacred 


canon 


There  are  critical  scholars  who,  while  recog- 
nizing that  the  book  in  its  present  form  contains 
contradictory  statements  and  that  it  is  loaded  with 
maxims  not  relevant  to  the  main  thought  of  the 
author,  yet  maintain  the  unity  of  the  book^^  on  the 
ground  that  the  additions  were  made  by  Koheleth 
himself  for  fear  of  arousing  opposition  to  the  book 
and  in  order  to  conceal  its  real  nature  as  much  as 
possible.  Such  an  assumption  would  reflect  little 
credit  on  Koheleth's  character.  It  would  stamp 
him  as  a  hypocrite.  In  addition  to  being  a  coward. 
The  hypocrisy  in  this  instance  would  have  been 
quite  superfluous,  since  the  adoption  of  a  nom 
de  plume  would  have  been  a  sufficient  safeguard 
against  any  possible  attacks  of  a  personal  charac- 
ter. It  is  gratuitous  to  assume  that  Koheleth  was 
such  a  great  coward  as  to  surround  himself  with  a 
double    rampart.      Moreover,   Is  It  likely  that  a 

•*  So,  e.g..  Professor  D.  S.  MargoHouth,  of  Oxford,  in  his  introduction 
to  Eccksiastes,  in  the  "Temple  Bible." 


A  GENTLE  Cl^NIC 

writer  who  speaks  as  frankly  as  Koheleth  does, 
would  have  conceived  the  Machiavellian  device 
of  himself  adding  the  antidote  to  the  poison  that 
he  instils  into  the  minds  of  his  readers?  Hardly. 
A  man  who  is  frank  is  rarely  subtle — certainly  not 
subtle  enough  to  appear  to  be  dishonest.  Finally 
in  supposing  that  Koheleth  wrote  his  book  in  such 
a  way  as  to  disguise  his  real  meaning,  we  are 
projecting  modern  methods  of  book  publication 
into  a  period  in  which  books  were  not  published  at 
all  in  our  sense  of  the  word. 

We  must  picture  to  ourselves  Koheleth  as  a 
member  of  a  circle,  interested  in  the  problems  with 
which  the  book  deals.  He  gives  expressions  to 
certain  views  which  he  shares  with  others.  What 
he  wrote  was  spread  within  a  limited  range  of 
readers,  and  if  it  attracted  also  the  attention  of 
those  whose  viewpoint  was  totally  different,  it 
was  due  to  the  circumstance  that  the  circle  to 
which  Koheleth  belonged  and  of  which  he  was  in 
a  sense  the  mouthpiece  had  acquired  sufficient 
prominence  to  arouse  the  opposition  of  the  ortho- 
dox and  pious.  In  the  third  century  before  this 
era — and  even  before  that — the  intellectual  life 
among  the  Jews  was  sufficiently  advanced  to  have 
produced  varying  shades  of  opinion  on  religious 
matters,  as  on  questions  of  religious  practice. 
We  miss  the  whole  point  of  Koheleth's  philosophy 
of  life,  unless  we  regard  it  as  one  outcome  among 
others  of  considerable  independent  speculation 
within  the  intellectual  circles  of  the  period  in  which 

103 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Koheleth  flourished.  If,  belonging  to  a  circle  which 
raised  the  question  as  to  the  basis  and  sufliciency 
of  the  current  religious  views,  Koheleth  felt  im- 
pelled to  write  at  all,  the  impulse  could  only  have 
led  him  to  express  his  point  of  view — not  to  con- 
ceal it  by  a  clumsy  as  well  as  a  dishonest  trick. 

But,  it  may  further  be  argued,  Koheleth  may 
have  been  a  man  of  many  moods.  In  one  of  his 
moods,  he  may  have  been  a  pessimist,  perhaps 
under  the  influence  of  a  spell  of  indigestion,  in 
another  he  may  have  been  optimistically  inclined, 
perhaps  because  of  some  pleasant  experience. 
There  are  other  instances  of  writers  who  now  ap- 
pear to  be  skeptics,  while  at  another  time  what 
they  write  bears  the  earmarks  of  a  reverent  be- 
liever. Consistency  is  a  rare  virtue — even  among 
modern  thinkers.  It  is  not  easy  to  say  exactly 
what  an  elusive  writer  like  Anatole  France  believes 
or  does  not  believe.  Renan  is  reported  to  have 
said  of  himself  that  he  did  not  feel  entirely  happy 
unless  he  contradicted  himself  twice  a  day.  Who  is 
so  chameleon-like  in  his  thought  as  Bernard  Shaw? 
Reading  him  is  like  playing  a  game  of  now  you  see 
it,  now  you  don't.  And  Bernard  Shaw  is  a  jewel  of 
consistency  compared  to  Gilbert  Chesterton  whose 
metier  it  is  to  be  paradoxical,  and  of  whom  the  only 
thing  certain  is  that  he  is  uncertain.  May  not 
Koheleth  have  been  of  this  type  ?  Possibly,  though 
in  granting  this  we  are  again  in  danger  of  project- 
ing a  modern  spirit  into  an  ancient  writer. 

Now  if  Koheleth  had  written  two  books,  we 
104 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

might  even  grant  the  possibiHty  that  the  one 
might  be  orthodox,  and  the  other  heterodox,  but 
unfortunately  he  wrote  only  one,  or  at  least  only 
one  has  come  down  to  us;  and  it  is  putting  too 
great  a  strain  on  one's  credulity  to  ask  us  to  be- 
lieve, in  order  to  maintain  the  unity  of  the  book 
in  its  present  form,  that  Koheleth  was  so  moody — 
or  rather  so  silly — as  to  blow  hot  and  cold  at  the 
same  time.  A  man  of  such  mental  caliber  would 
hardly  have  produced  anything  that  could  have 
stood  the  test  of  time  as  Koheleth  has  done. 

Is  it  reasonable  to  assume  that  even  the  most 
capricious  writer  would  spoil  his  own  work — and 
a  short  book  at  that — by  representing  himself  as 
his  own  opponent. f*  Koheleth,  as  will  be  pointed 
out,  is  not  always  consistent.  He  claims  in  one 
paragraph  to  hate  life  (ii.  17)  and  yet  elsewhere — 
and  indeed  in  general — he  loves  life  for  life's  sake; 
and  though  he  believes  that  things  in  this  world 
are  preordained,  he  does  not  carry  this  view  to 
its  logical  conclusion  to  the  denial  of  free  initiative 
on  the  part  of  man.  This,  however,  is  quite  a  differ- 
ent matter  from  complaining  in  one  place  (viii.  10) 
that  the  wicked  are  honored  in  life  and  even  after 
death,  and  then  adding  (viii.  11-13)  that  though 
sentence  may  be  deferred  for  evil-doers,  yet  "it 
shall  not  be  well  with  them"  and  that  those  who 
fear  God  will  be  prosperous,  although  elsewhere  his 
plaint  is  that  virtue  is  not  rewarded  (vii.  15;  ix.  15). 
The  contradictions  of  which  Koheleth  in  its  present 
form  is  full  affect  the  main  thesis  of  the  entire  book, 

I  OS 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

to  wit,  that  because  one  cannot  see  the  workings 
of  justice  in  this  world,  and  man  can  neither  un- 
derstand the  present  nor  know  what  is  going  to 
happen  in  a  world  which  appears  to  be  ruled  by 
blind  chance,  the  only  thing  to  do  is  to  try  to  have 
as  good  a  time  as  possible.  Life  without  joy  is  a 
failure.  That  is  the  reflection  which,  like  a  refrain, 
is  constantly  suggested  as  Koheleth  unfolds  his 
picture  of  the  world  in  which  we  live.  A  writer  of 
many  moods  might  at  diiferent  times  present  va- 
rious aspects  of  a  situation,  but  it  is  inconceivable 
that  he  should  upset  his  entire  theory  of  life, 
just  after  he  has  scored  a  strong  point  in  favor 
of  it.  The  contradictions  in  Koheleth  are  always 
encountered  at  a  critical  point  in  the  exposition  of 
the  theme;  they  come  after  Koheleth  has  given 
utterance  to  a  point  of  view,  particularly  startling 
and  obnoxious  to  the  pious  and  conventional 
reader.  By  virtue  of  this,  these  contradictory 
statements  reveal  themselves  as  additions  made  by 
some  opponent  of  Koheleth,  who  is  bent  upon 
controverting  him,  and  who  is  anxious  to  set  up 
against  Koheleth's  unorthodox  thoughts  the  posi- 
tion taken  by  the  pious.  Moreover,  the  style  in 
which  most  of  the  additions  are  written  plainly 
shows  that  we  are  dealing  with  a  different  writer. 
Note  as  an  example  the  prosy  and  didactic  way  in 
which  the  attempt  is  made  to  show  that  the  wicked 
are  punished  and  the  good  rewarded  in  the  illus- 
tration above  given  (viii.  11-13),  as  against  the 
pithy,  vigorous  and  picturesque  manner  in  which 

106 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Koheleth  sets  forth  his  cynical  position  that  the 
wicked  flourish  and  are  praised  after  their  death 
in  the  very  place  in  which  they  carried  on  their 
wicked  careers. 

Koheleth  advises  the  young  to  enjoy  them- 
selves in  every  possible  way,  to  follow  their  in- 
clinations and  "put  away  all  trouble  from  their 
minds"  (xi.  lo).  Is  it  conceivable  that  he  would 
follow  this  up  immediately  by  advising  the  same 
youth  "to  remove  evil  from  thy  flesh?"  The  one 
piece  of  advice  is  in  accord  with  Koheleth's  view  of 
life  as  unfolded  in  his  book,  the  other  is  clearly  the 
warning  of  one  who  is  concerned  for  man's  spiritual 
and  moral  welfare.  Chasing  away  cares  so  as 
to  enjoy  life  to  the  full  is  the  direct  opposite  of 
keeping  oneself  free  from  sin.  Such  a  contradiction 
is  fundamental  and  cannot  be  accounted  for  by 
assuming  that  Koheleth  was  of  a  changeable  mood. 
Caprice  cannot  be  carried  to  the  point  of  illogical 
absurdity;  and  this  is  what  we  are  led  to  by  the 
attempt  to  save  the  unity  of  the  book  on  the  as- 
sumption that  Koheleth  had  no  real  message  to 
convey,  and  therefore  acted  the  part  of  the  literary 
buffoon.  Not  only  that,  but  after  ruining  his  work 
by  making  it  unintelligible  and  nonsensical,  he 
proceeded  to  pad  it  with  illustrations  and  with 
maxims  of  all  kinds  that  interrupt  the  context  and 
that  have  no  direct  bearing  either  on  the  author's 
theme,  or  on  the  arguments  introduced  by  him  in 
defense  of  that  theme.  Many  of  these  maxims  are, 
to  be  sure,  striking  and  some  are  admirable — espe- 

107 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

daily  those  introduced  into  Chapters  vii,  x  and  xi — 
but  they  become  much  more  attractive  when  put 
together^^  and  regarded  as  extracts  from  a  collec- 
tion, than  in  their  present  interspersed  position  in 
Koheleth,  where  they  are  distinctly  disturbing  to 
the  sequence  of  the  thought  which  Koheleth  wishes 
to  convey  to  his  readers.  And  again,  the  style  of 
these  sayings  differs  from  that  of  the  body  of  the 
book  and  thus  reveals  their  character  as  supple- 
ments to  the  real  Koheleth,  added  at  some  time 
after  the  completion  of  the  book.  If  we  had  only 
a  few  of  such  sayings,  we  might  assume  that  Kohe- 
leth is  introducing  them  as  apt  quotations,  but 
their  large  number  precludes  the  reasonableness 
of  such  an  inartistic  procedure  on  the  part  of  a 

skillful  writer. 

XIV 

BELIEF  IN  THE  BIBLE  NOT  AFFECTED  BY 
HISTORICAL  AND  LITERARY  CRITICISM 

Turning  now  to  the  second  question — what 
becomes  of  the  supposedly  sacred  character  of 
Koheleth  and  indeed  of  all  the  books  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  if  we  treat  the  books  in  the 
manner  proposed  by  the  critics.?  The  question  is 
a  pertinent  one,  but  the  implication  that  by  ap- 
plying a  historical  and  critical  method  to  the 
study  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  the  charac- 
ter of  the  books  as  part  of  a  sacred  canon  is  endan- 
gered, rests  upon  an  erroneous  assumption  of  the 
nature  of  historical  criticism.    The  new  approach 

*^  As  has  been  done  in  the  Appendix  p.  249  et  seq. 
108 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

towards  the  books  of  the  Bible  which  has  become  a 
commonplace  in  modern  scholarship  throughout 
the  world  affects  beliefs  about  the  Bible,  but  not 
belief  in  the  Bible.  Acceptance  of  the  ascertained 
results  of  modern  Biblical  study  obliges  us  to 
abandon  traditional  views  held  concerning  the 
origin  and  composition  of  the  books  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  when  these  views  are  shown  to  be 
in  direct  contradiction  to  facts  ascertained  as  the 
result  of  research.  This  does  not  mean  that  the 
factor  of  tradition  is  to  be  rejected  entirely  in  the 
critical  study.  Far  from  it.  A  tradition  is  seldom 
entirely  astray.  ^^  It  rests  generally  on  a  basis 
which  has  some  substantiality,  though  not  neces- 
sarily the  one  assumed  by  the  tradition  itself. 
Besides,  it  is  part  of  the  critical  method  even  when 
it  rejects  a  tradition  to  account  for  its  rise,  and  in 
doing  so  criticism  generally  comes  to  recognize  a 
residuum  of  value  in  the  tradition,  albeit  rejected 
as  a  whole.  So,  e.g.,  modern  study  has  shown  that 
there  are  several  distinct  codes  of  the  Pentateuch, 
that  these  codes  date  from  various  periods,  and 
that  they  received  their  present  form  as  the  result 
of  a  process  of  compilation  and  editing  stretching 
over  centuries  and  terminating  not  earlier  than  the 
end  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  that  is  to  say,  at  least 
seven  centuries  after  the  death  of  Moses  to  whom 
tradition  ascribed  all  the  laws.     While  historical 


"  For  a  more  detailed  discussion  of  the  relationship  of  Biblical  tradition 
to  criticism,  see  the  author's  paper  on  "Constructive  Elements  in  the 
Critical  Study  of  the  Old  Testament"  (Presidential  address,  published  in  the 
Journal  of  Biblical  Literature,  volume  36,  pp.  1-30). 

109 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

criticism  thus  rejects  the  tradition  of  the  Mosaic 
origin  of  the  Pentateuchal  codes,  it  yet  recognizes 
the  value  of  the  tradition,  which  would  not  have 
arisen  had  not  Moses  impressed  himself  upon  his 
age  as  a  law-giver  in  the  ancient  sense  of  rendering 
decisions  in  the  name  of  a  deity.  Law  everywhere 
in  antiquity  is  carried  back  to  a  divine  origin,  and 
the  tradition  which  represents  Moses  as  receiving 
the  law  from  Yahweh,  though  the  form  of  this 
tradition  in  the  Pentateuch  itself  is  late,  rests  upon 
an  early  and  widespread  belief,  which  thus  aims  to 
account  for  the  sanctity  attaching  to  the  laws. 
Furthermore,  it  is  of  the  essence  of  law  codes  to 
embody  very  old  elements  by  the  side  of  later 
decisions  and  of  amendments  to  original  and  very 
ancient  decisions.  In  all  the  codes  to  be  distin- 
guished in  the  Pentateuch  we  come  across  such  old 
elements;  and  when  we  find  decisions  and  statutes 
that  correspond  to  the  social  and  religious  condi- 
tions prevailing  in  the  days  of  Moses,  we  are  jus- 
tified in  attributing  them  to  the  great  leader  under 
whose  stimulus  the  tribes  of  Israel  are  welded  into 
seme  kind  of  a  unity  that  marks  the  beginning  of 
the  national  life. 

Now,  it  is  evident  that  the  critical  method, 
besides  in  this  way  utilizing  the  substantial  basis 
of  a  tradition  which  in  its  complete  form  it  rejects, 
does  not  affect  the  question  as  to  the  value  of  the 
codes  nor  of  the  beliefs  which  are  embodied  in  them. 
The  test  of  these  beliefs  lies  outside  the  scope  of 
historical    criticism;    it   falls    within   the    domain 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

of  theology  with  which  historical  criticism  is  in  no 
way  concerned. 

What  applies  to  the  codes  of  the  Pentateuch 
holds  good  also  for  the  narratives  within  which 
the  codes  are  encased.  Historical  criticism  differ- 
entiates these  narratives  into  their  component 
parts.  Some  of  them  rest  upon  a  foundation  of 
myth,  others  represent  the  outcome  of  early  non- 
mythical  speculation  on  the  mysteries  of  the  uni- 
verse and  of  human  life.  Some  of  the  tales  in  Gen- 
esis and  Exodus  are  folk-tales,  reflecting  in  part 
conditions  of  life  under  patriarchal  conditions, 
and  in  part  representing  popular  traditions  with  an 
historical  substratum.  The  religious  value  of  these 
narratives  resides  not  in  the  stories  themselves, 
but  in  the  manner  in  which  the  tales  are  utilized 
by  the  compilers  and  editors  to  whose  combined 
labors  the  final  form  is  due,  to  illustrate  certain 
conceptions  of  God  as  the  single  Power  behind  and 
above  the  universe,  and  certain  ethical  principles 
bearing  on  the  position  of  man  in  the  universe,  or 
on  his  duties  and  obligations.  In  short,  the  attitude 
towards  life,  illustrated  by  the  codes  and  the  nar- 
ratives, gives  us  the  religious  import  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch; and  the  value  and  underlying  truth  of 
this  attitude  are  again  entirely  independent  of  the 
postulates  of  historical  criticism. 

This  being  clearly  grasped,  it  will  not  seem 
unreasonable  to  claim  that  through  the  historical 
background,  gained  by  the  application  of  the  crit- 
ical method  to  the  study  of  the  books  of  the  Bible, 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

we  reach  a  deeper  and  far  keener  appreciation  of  the 
contents  of  these  books.  How  much  more  does 
the  utterance  of  a  prophet — spoken  or  written — 
mean  to  us  when  we  are  able  to  reconstruct  the 
conditions  under  which  the  utterance  was  made? 
And  if,  as  a  result  of  the  new  approach  towards 
the  Bible,  we  are  led  to  reject  the  tradition  which 
places  an  utterance  in  the  mouth  of  Isaiah, 
because  it  belongs  to  a  period  subsequent  to  that 
prophet's  day,  is  there  not  more  than  a  correspond- 
ing gain  to  be  recognized  in  placing  the  utterance 
itself  in  its  proper  perspective  ?  Once  more, 
the  warning  is  in  place  not  to  confuse  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  a  prophet  spoke  or  wrote 
with  the  beliefs  upon  which  his  utterances  rest, 
or  which  they  embody.  The  test  of  these  beliefs, 
likewise,  lies  outside  of  the  scope  of  historical 
criticism.  The  same  applies  to  the  Psalms,  as  the 
most  perfect  expression  of  faith  in  the  guidance 
of  a  Power  conceived  in  the  most  sublime  spiritual 
terms.  Clearly,  the  justification  of  this  faith,  as 
well  as  the  capability  that  the  remarkable  col- 
lection still  possesses  after  the  lapse  of  two  millen- 
iums  of  influencing  human  lives,  is  independent 
of  the  origin  and  method  of  their  composition.  On 
the  contrary,  knowledge  of  their  origin  can  only 
help  to  deepen  the  impression  that  they  make. 
The  rejection  of  the  tradition  about  the  Psalms 
may  be  painful  when  it  is  first  forced  home  upon 
us,  because  in  the  course  of  time  the  tradition  has 
become  so  closely  bound  up  with  the  compositions, 

112 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

themselves,  but  a  moment's  reflection  must  also 

make  it  clear  that  the  value  of  the  Psalms   has 

nothing  to  do  with  the  tradition.    What  matters 

It  who  wrote  them  or  when  they  were  written? 

Their  value  is  not  affected  by  the  answer  to  such 

questions,  any  more  than  the  value  of  the  religious 

truths   and  aspirations  to  which  they  give  such 

sublime  expression. 

XV 

THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  CANON  AS  A  MIRROR 
OF  VARIOUS  ASPECTS  OF  LIFE 
Coming  back  to  the  Book  of  Koheleth,  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Old  Testament 
gives  us  the  remains  of  the  literature  produced  by 
the  ancient  Hebrews  during  the  eight  or  possibly 
nine  centuries  before  this  era.  Much  more  was 
produced  than  has  come  down  to  us,  and  we  know 
the  names  at  least  of  some  compositions  which 
were  lost,  because  they  were  not  preserved  as  part 
of  a  sacred  canon.  Now  the  literary  life  of  a  people 
presents  many  aspects,  and  we  should,  therefore, 
expect  to  find  in  the  canon  traces  of  all  kinds  of 
currents  and  countercurrents  crisscrossing  through 
the  ages.  Koheleth,  the  Book  of  Job,  the  Song  of 
Songs,  Proverbs,  Ruth,  and  Daniel  represent  some 
of  these  currents,  all  bound  up  with  the  religious 
and  social  interests  of  the  people  among  whom 
these  books  arise.  These  productions,  of  an  entirely 
different  character  from  the  laws,  the  early  narra- 
tives, the  historical  books  and  the  collections  of 
the   prophets,  touch  life  at  many  angles.     Their 

8  113 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

inclusion  in  the  canon  is  due  to  the  impression 
which  they  made  and  to  the  influence  which  they 
must  have  exerted,  although  we  are  no  longer  able 
to  trace  the  course  of  this  influence  in  detail.  The 
anonymity  of  all  these  productions,  the  reasons 
for  which  I  have  tried  to  set  forth,  was  a  factor  in 
making  them  the  expression  of  currents  and 
countercurrents  in  the  life  of  the  people  as  a 
whole,  with  far  less  regard  for  individual  points  of 
view  (which,  to  be  sure,  are  also  to  be  recognized 
in  them)  than  we  are  apt  to  associate  with  a  mod- 
ern literary  product.  Anonymity,  leading  by  a 
natural  transition  to  collective  authorship,  gives 
to  such  books  more  particularly,  as  Koheleth  and 
the  Book  of  Job,  the  character  of  "Tracts  of  the 
Times,"  voicing  views  held  in  certain  circles.  These 
views  formed  a  part  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
people,  as  much  as  did  the  expression  of  religious 
aspirations  in  the  Psalms,  and  as  the  Song  of 
Songs,  a  collection  of  popular  love  ditties,  reflects 
another  aspect  of  the  life  and  emotions  of  the 
people.  It  was  proper,  therefore,  that  in  a  collec- 
tion which  aimed  to  preserve  what  was  best  in  the 
literary  legacy  of  the  past,  and  which  had  made 
its  way  into  the  thought  of  the  people,  literary 
productions  less  distinctively  religious  and  bor- 
dering on  the  secular  should  have  found  a  place, 
by  the  side  of  books  that  were  in  a  superlative 
degree  religious.  Religion  among  ancient  peoples 
— and  particularly  among  a  people  like  the  He- 
brews passing  through  such  a  remarkable  religious 

114 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

experience — touches  life  at  so  many  points  and 
connects  with  so  many  avenues  that  themes  dealing 
with  problems  of  life  and  popular  customs  that  for 
us  would  be  purely  secular  take  on  a  religious  aspect. 
The  dividing  line  between  religious  and  what  we 
should  regard  as  secular  literature  is  not  so  sharply 
drawn  under  conditions  prevailing  in  antiquity. 
From  the  modern  point  of  view  such  productions  as 
Koheleth,  Book  of  Job,  Proverbs,  and  Song  of 
Songs  are  distinctly  secular,  and  in  order  to  be 
grasped  in  their  real  meaning  should  so  be  regarded; 
but  they  all — and  particularly  the  first  three — 
are  branches  of  the  main  religious  current,  run- 
ning through  the  life  of  the  ancient  Hebrews. 
This  trait  was  recognized  or  instinctively  felt  by 
those  who  were  instrumental  in  bringing  together 
the  canon  of  the  best  literature  of  the  past,  and 
therefore  the  books  in  question  were  included  in  a 
category  from  which  in  a  stricter  sense,  as  not 
being  sacred  in  their  contents,  they  should  have 
been  excluded.  The  difference  of  degree  in  sacred- 
ness  between  these  books  and  the  first  two  divis- 
ions of  the  Old  Testament — the  Pentateuch  with 
the  historical  books  Joshua,  Samuel  and  Kings 
and  the  Prophets — was  admitted  by  the  Jewish 
Rabbis,  but  when  after  considerable  discussion, 
of  which  we  have  traces  in  the  Talmud,"  they 
were  placed  in  the  third  division  known  as  "mis- 
cellaneous  writings,"  it  was  all  the  more  impor- 

*'  The  question  was  raised  whether  these  books  "defile  the  hands" — a 
peculiar  phrase,  meaning  whether  they  had  to  be  handled  with  special  care 
as  was  the  case  with  the  books  of  the  first  two  divisions  of  the  O.  T. 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

tant  to  emphasize  the  sacred  character  given  to 
them,  in  order  to  put  them  on  a  par  with  the  books 
of  the  other  two  divisions.  This  end  was  acom- 
pHshed  by  additions  to  some  of  the  books — as  in 
the  case  of  Koheleth  and  Job — and  by  a  reHgious- 
allegorical  interpretation  given  to  others,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Song  of  Songs. ^^ 

XVI 

THE  ORIGINAL  VERSUS  THE  MODIFIED 
KOHELETH 

Confining  ourselves  here  to  Koheleth,  and 
leaving  the  details  with  regard  to  Job  and  Song  of 
Songs  for  special  treatment  of  these  two  important 
and  fascinating  productions,  it  is  the  book  in  its 
present  form,  as  finally  accepted  by  the  Rabbis 
who  fixed  the  canon,  that  is  sacred — not  the  original 
Koheleth  which,  in  fact,  was  objectionable  from 
the  narrower  and  more  exclusive  religious  point  of 
view.  It  is  not  begging  the  question,  but  the  state- 
ment of  a  fact  which  may  be  accepted  as  literal, 
that  there  are  two  books  of  Koheleth,  one  expressive 
of  views  regarding  life  held  in  certain  circles, 
which  in  an  independent  spirit  had  cut  loose  from 
the  conventional  views  that  had  grown  up  under 
the  influence  of  the  prophets'  conception  of  divine 
government  of  the  universe,  the  other  book  as 
modified,  to  make  it  conform,  so  far  as  possible,  to 
the  teachings  prevalent  in  orthodox  and  conser- 
vative  circles.     It  is   the  latter  book  which  was 

•*  See  above,  p.  55. 

116 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

admitted  into  the  canon.  The  former  not  only  would 
have  been  rejected,  it  zvas  rejected  by  virtue  of  the 
additions  to  which  it  was  subjected,  and  which 
gave  to  the  teachings  of  the  real  Koheleth  an  en- 
tirely different  direction,  so  different  that  if  the 
author  of  the  original  book  were  to  come  back  to 
life,  he  would  have  considerable  difficulty  in  rec- 
ognizing his  offspring. 

Will  it  seem  to  be  going  too  far  to  claim  that 
we  cannot  understand  the  modified  Koheleth, 
without  making  the  endeavor  to  get  back  to 
the  original  and  real  Koheleth  .f*  I  hold  not,  and 
that  on  the  contrary  Koheleth  dressed  up  in 
orthodox  garb,  himself  becomes  more  intelligible 
to  us  if  we  recognize  the  manner  in  which  he  re- 
ceived his  strange  disguise.  By  separating  the 
original  kernel  from  the  subsequent  additions,  we 
are  placed  in  a  position  to  follow  the  process  which 
resulted  in  giving  us  a  new  book,  that  could  be 
regarded  as  worthy  of  a  place  in  a  sacred  coi- 
tion. Nor  need  we  accuse  those  who  thus  changed 
the  entire  character  of  the  book  of  any  attempt  at 
willful  deception.  Apart  from  the  fact  that,  as  we 
have  seen,^'  it  was  perfectly  natural  and  indeed 
inevitable  before  the  days  when  the  claims  of  in- 
dividual authorship  were  fully  recognized  for  any 
piece  of  writing  which  conveyed  a  vital  message 
to  be  subject  to  additions  and  to  steady  modifi- 
cation, pious  commentators,  as  well  as  those  who 
supplemented  Koheleth's  pithy  sayings  by  others 

"  See  above,  p.  32. 

117 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

which  to  them  seemed  to  be  relevant,  or  which 
supplemented  Koheleth  without  being  relevant, 
felt  that  they  were  rendering  a  service  to  the  cause 
of  religion  and  of  ethics  by  showing  on  the  one 
hand  how  the  questions  raised  by  Koheleth  might 
be  answered,  and  on  the  other  how  maxims  intended 
as  a  guidance  for  life  could  be  supplemented  by 
others.  From  the  critical  and  modern  point  of 
view  we  recognize  the  intent  of  these  additions  to 
be  two-fold,  to  make  the  figure  of  Solomon  as  the 
reputed  author  of  the  book  conform  to  the  Solo- 
mon of  orthodox  tradition,  and  to  give  to  the  book 
the  character  of  being  a  collection  of  sayings, 
edifying  and  suitable  for  general  reading  like  the 
Book  of  Proverbs.  We  may  feel  certain  that 
the  manipulators  of  the  original  book,  living  in 
an  uncritical  age  which  had  not  developed  the 
historical  sense  that  to  us  has  become  a  com- 
monplace, felt  that  they  were  improving  the 
book  by  furnishing  the  antidote  to  Koheleth 's 
teachings. 

To  be  sure,  Koheleth  himself  was  in  part  to 
blame  for  the  production  of  this  new  and  modified 
edition  of  his  book.  His  device  in  choosing  a  nom 
de  plume,  which  was  intended  to  convey  the  im- 
pression that  King  Solomon  was  the  author,  fur- 
nished the  opponents  of  the  book  with  a  good 
excuse  for  making  the  contents  of  the  book  conform 
to  the  picture  of  the  idealized  Solomon.  The  very 
success  of  the  device  thus  gave  the  opponents  of 
Koheleth  a  weapon  which  they  used  against  the 

ii8 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

author.  If  Koheleth  was  Solomon,  there  was  every 
reason  why  he  should  be  made  to  think  and  write 
as  Solomon,  and  the  only  Solomon  recognized  by 
an  uncritical  age  was  the  one  that  had  grown  up 
under  the  influence  of  the  tradition  which  instinc- 
tively converted  all  the  figures  of  the  past  into 
types  of  piety  and  wisdom. 

The  sacred  book  of  Koheleth  is  therefore  the 
one  that  appears  in  our  Bibles.  That  is  the  one 
which  supplies  us  with  the  answer  to  the  doubts 
raised  by  the  author  as  to  the  evidence  of  a  reign 
of  justice  in  this  world.  The  book  in  its  final  form 
is  the  one  which  supplies  a  goal  to  life — denied  by 
the  original  Koheleth.  That  goal  is  pithily  set 
forth  in  one  of  the  supplements  at  the  end  of  the 
book  and  repeated  at  various  places  in  the  additions 
to  the  body  of  the  book,  "Fear  God  and  keep 
his  commandments."  The  modified  Koheleth  is 
the  one  who  warns  us  that  God  will  bring  man  to 
judgment  for  his  acts.  It  is  Koheleth  in  an  ortho- 
dox garb,  who  assures  us  that,  appearances  to  the 
contrary,  wickedness  is  punished  and  that  the 
world  is  ruled  by  a  just  Providence. 

Finally,  be  it  emphasized  once  more  that  we 
should  be  grateful  to  those  who  thus  succeeded  in 
giving  to  Koheleth  the  form  of  a  book  that  could 
be  used  for  religious  edification,  for  without  this 
the  book  would  probably  have  been  lost,  as  so 
many  other  productions  which  did  not  find  a 
place  in  the  canon  failed  to  be  preserved.  The 
new  Koheleth  saved  the  old  one. 

119 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

XVII 
KOHELETH  AND  HIS  "PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE" 

Having  set  forth  the  history  of  the  book  and 
its  real  character,  together  with  the  modifications 
which  resulted  in  producing  what  is  virtually  a 
second  Koheleth,  converting  a  secular  book  into  a 
sacred  one,  we  are  now  prepared  to  pass  on  to  an 
outline  of  the  philosophy  of  life  embodied  in  the 
original  portions  of  Koheleth.  In  doing  so  I  have  a 
two-fold  purpose  in  view,  to  show  that  the  atti- 
tude of  the  author  towards  the  problems  of  human 
existence  confirms  the  conclusion,  reached  from 
other  considerations,  as  to  the  late  date  of  the 
book,  between  the  close  of  the  third  century  and 
the  beginning  of  the  second  century  B.C.,  and  on 
the  other  hand  to  assign  to  the  book  its  proper 
place  in  Palestinian  literature,  which  will  inci- 
dentally justify  its  inclusion  among  the  choice 
productions  of  the  human  mind  that  have  a  mes- 
sage, not  limited  to  any  particular  period  or  clime. 

The  basic  thought  of  Koheleth,  repeated 
some  twenty  times,  is  that  "all  is  vanity"  in  this 
world  in  which  we  move  and  have  our  being.  The 
author  proceeds  to  prove  this  by  taking  up  one 
phase  of  human  activity  after  the  other.  In  this 
way  he  makes  clear  what  he  means  by  "vanity," 
and  on  what  he  bases  his  philosophy  of  life.  His 
main  contention  is  that  there  is  no  real  progress 
in  the  world,  despite  continued  and  uninterrupted 
activity.    In  the  poetic  introduction  (i.  3-1 1)  which 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

may  be  regarded  as  a  summary  of  his  philosophy, 
probably  added  by  the  author  after  he  had  finished 
his  work,  he  sets  forth  an  idea  which  must  have 
seemed  startling  when  first  uttered,  that  nature 
herself  shows  the  absence  of  any  real  aim  or 
progress  in  the  universe.  There  is  merely  endless 
repetition.  Things  are  in  a  state  of  constant  flux, 
but  there  is  no  advance  in  nature.  The  sun  moves 
from  east  to  west  and  back  again  to  the  east.  The 
wind  shifts  from  south  to  north  and  comes  back  to 
the  direction  whence  it  started.  The  rivers  seem  to 
be  rushing  towards  a  goal,  but  there  is  no  goal,  for 
they  continue  forever  to  flow  to  the  sea  into  which 
they  empty  their  waters,  but  which  is  never  full. 
Nature  herself  seems  to  grow  weary  of  this  mono- 
tonous moving  picture,  always  unwinding  the 
same  reel,  and  it  is  natural,  therefore,  that  human 
life,  which  likewise  proceeds  in  a  never-ending 
circle,  should  become  wearisome.  What  profit  has 
man  of  all  of  his  activity,  seeing  that  one  genera- 
tion after  the  other  passes  away,  each  doing  the 
same  things,  each  always  active  and  yet  none 
pushing  towards  a  definite  goal?  There  is  no  goal 
to  human  existence  any  more  than  to  nature. 
That  is  the  true  significance  of  the  famous  phrase, 
coined  by  Koheleth,  that  "There  is  nothing  new 
under  the  sun"  (i.  9).  If  there  were  something 
really  new,  it  would  be  an  indication  of  a  real  ad- 
vance towards  some  goal.  The  reason  why  some 
things  which  happen  in  the  world  appear  to  be 
new  is  because  what  has  happened  is   forgotten. 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

The  record  is  lost.  It  is  interesting  to  note,  as  an 
illustration  of  the  "modernity"  of  Koheleth,  that 
this  thought  of  endless  repetition  in  nature,  which 
forms  the  introduction  to  his  book,  is  encountered 
among  thinkers  of  our  own  days  and  for  whom 
it  likewise  forms  the  starting  point  of  their  philos- 
ophy. So  Amiel  in  his  "Journal  Intime"  (under 
date  of  the  4th  of  August,  1880)  speaks  of  "nature 
being  governed  by  continuity,  the  continuity  of 
repetition  *  *  *  profound  monotony  in  universal 
movement — there  is  the  simplest  formula  fur- 
nished by  the  spectacle  of  the  world."  Similarly 
Prince  Eugene  Troubetzkoy,  who  holds  a  chair  in 
the  University  of  Moscow,  in  an  article  in  the 
Hibbert  JournalioT  Ja.nua.Ty,  1918  (page  179),  con- 
cludes, from  the  everlasting  repetition  in  nature,  as 
does  Koheleth,  the  absence  of  a  purpose  in  life. 
"Life,"  he  says,  "is  always  repeating  the  same 
vicious  circle."  It  would  appear  indeed  that 
Koheleth  by  his  observation  of  the  endless  and 
monotonous  repetition  in  nature  has  hit  upon  the 
real  basis  of  pessimistic  philosophy  wherever  we 
encounter  it — whether  in  India,  or  in  the  West,  in 
the  ideas  of  Schopenhauer,  as  in  those  of  Nietzsche, 
concerning  the  eternal  cycle. 

Koheleth  is,  of  course,  aware  of  the  obvious 
objection  to  all  this,  that  whereas  nature  is  con- 
stantly repeating  herself,  and  the  experiences  of 
life  pass  along  in  a  circle  of  endless  repetition,  yet 
the  repetition  is  never  precisely  the  same,  neither 
in  nature  nor  in  history.    No  two  trees  are  exactly 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

alike,  no  human  experiences  are  completely  copies 
of  one  another.  The  history  of  one  people  differs 
considerably  from  that  of  another.  New  discover- 
ies are  constantly  being  made  that  change  the 
aspects  of  existence.  Koheleth's  answer  would  be 
that  the  variations  in  the  repetition  do  not  affect 
essentials,  either  in  nature  or  in  life.  In  contrast  to 
Amiel  who  says  that  in  order  to  avoid  fastidium 
through  the  eternal  repetition  of  nature,  we  must 
lay  stress  "  upon  the  small  differences  which  exist, 
and  then  by  learning  to  enjoy  repetition,"  Kohe- 
leth  would  claim  that  such  differences  as,  e.g.,  the 
difference  between  the  course  of  the  sun  in  summer 
and  its  course  in  winter  is  a  negligible  quantity. 
The  sun  rises  and  sets  in  constant  succession — that 
is  the  essential  fact;  and  so  one  generation  succeeds 
another  and  passes  through  the  same  general  expe- 
riences. The  general  is  the  essential,  which  is  not 
affected  by  any  specific  variation,  either  in  the 
life  of  individuals  or  of  peoples.  Besides,  what 
guarantee  have  we  that  even  the  variations  had 
not  occurred  endless  times  in  the  remote  and  for- 
gotten past?  The  individual  is  constantly  forget- 
ting what  he  once  knew.  The  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge is  counterbalanced  by  the  accompanying 
process  of  dropping  the  contents  of  one's  memory; 
and  so  the  collective  memory  of  mankind  loses  by 
the  wayside  facts  and  experiences  which  later 
crop  up  anew.  Discovery  is  rediscovery.  Perhaps 
nature  herself  shares  in  this  weakness  of  having 
forgotten  what  she  did  in  the  past. 

123 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Furthermore — and  this  is  the  more  serious  side 
of  Koheleth's  thought — the  new  does  not  repre- 
sent a  genuine  advance  over  the  old.  If  the  aspects 
of  hfe  are  changed  by  the  different  circumstances 
under  which  Hfe  is  passed,  by  inventions  and  by 
so-called  reforms  and  improvements,  what  is  it, 
Koheleth  would  interpose,  except  looking  at  life 
through  different  pieces  of  colored  glass?  Life 
appears  to  be  different  but  in  reality  is  not,  be- 
cause there  is  no  nearer  approach  to  any  goal.  The 
world  is  no  better  than  it  was  in  the  remote  past. 
Man  is  not  happier.  Life  continues  to  be  a  struggle. 
Sorrow  follows  man  as  a  shadow,  precisely  as  it 
did  his  forefathers.  We  see  around  us  the  same 
evils  as  in  the  days  of  yore.  We  are  beset  by  the 
same  temptations  and  fall  a  victim  to  them.  Pas- 
sions continue  to  rule,  the  reign  of  injustice  never 
comes  to  an  end  and  wrong  remains  triumphant. 
Such  are  the  implications  in  the  general  view  of 
the  world  set  forth  by  Koheleth  in  the  introduc- 
tion, which  like  an  overture  announces  the  musical 
theme  that  is  to  be  set  forth  in  its  many  variations. 

Perhaps  the  most  serious  defect  in  the  book 
from  the  point  of  view  of  literary  art  is  the  absence 
of  any  system  in  the  development  of  this  theme. 
The  book  is  more  in  the  nature  of  a  series  of  caus- 
eries,  passing  lightly  from  one  phase  of  the  subject 
to  the  other  without  regard  either  to  logical  order 
or  strict  consistency.  There  is  no  gradual  approach 
to  a  climax  as  there  is  in  the  unfolding  of  the 
central    theme    in   the   far    more    systematically 

124 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

constructed  book  of  Job,  with  which  Koheleth  is 
alHed.  In  Job,  each  aspect  of  the  perplexing  and 
apparently  insoluble  problem  of  the  reason  for 
unjust  suffering  in  a  world  supposed  to  be  created 
by  a  wise  and  just  God  is  thoroughly  exhausted 
before  another  is  taken  up.  When  we  reach  the 
end  of  the  discussion  between  Job  and  his  friends,  ^° 
despite  the  imperfect  character  of  the  last  series  of 
speeches, '^^  we  feel  that  everything  that  could  be 
brought  forward  has  been  said.  Not  so  Koheleth, 
who  is  suggestive  rather  than  exhaustive,  lighting 
up  his  theme  sporadically  here  and  there,  but  not 
illuminating  all  its  angles.  The  attempts  which 
have  been  made  by  some  modern  scholars  to  ob- 
tain a  better  sequence  in  the  unfolding  of  the 
theme  by  a  rearrangement  of  verses  and  sections, 
on  the  assumption  that  in  the  course  of  trans- 
mission the  correct  order  was  lost,^^  must  be  pro- 
nounced failures,  because  they  substitute  for  the 
gentle  cynic,  who  with  an  ironical  smile  on  his  lips 
exposes  life's  vagaries  with  a  delicate  touch  peculiar- 
ly his  own,  a  ratherforbidding  and  pedantic  logician, 
who  mercilessly  and  in  cold  blood  imposes  on  his 
readers  a  gloomy  system  of  pessimistic  philosophy. 
Koheleth  is  a  dilettante  in  philosophy.  He 
would  refuse  to  subscribe  to  any  school  of  thought. 

™At  the  end  of  Chapter  xxxi,  which,  as  the  subscript  "End  of  the 
words  of  Job"  shows,  was  originally  the  close  of  the  book. 

'^  Chapters  jydi-xxxi. 

"  The  late  Professor  Bickell,  of  Vienna,  justified  his  rearrangement  on 
the  view  that  the  string  connecting  the  single  leaves  of  the  manuscript  which 
formed  our  text  broke,  with  a  resultant  confusion  in  the  attempt  to  put  the 
leaves  together  again. 

"5 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

He  is  a  free  lance  and  is  in  turn  a  pessimist  and  a 
hon  vivant,  a  sympathizer  with  human  suifering 
and  a  behttler  of  human  ambition,  but  he  is  always 
in  good  humor.  He  smiles  at  the  world.  He  is 
scintillating  in  his  thought,  rather  than  profound. 
His  style  is  not  ponderous,  as  is  the  language  of 
Job,  but  light.  He  is  too  full  of  good  humor  to  be  a 
really  great  and  serious  philosopher.  He  belongs 
to  the  type  of  thinkers  whom  Renan  characterizes 
as  not  being  altogether  happy  unless  they  contra- 
dict themselves  at  least  twice  a  day.  Koheleth  is 
not  afraid  of  the  charge  of  inconsistency,  but  he 
would  have  his  answer  ready,  "Why  not — life  itself 
is  full  of  inconsistencies."  And  so,  literary  artist 
though  he  is  by  the  very  simpHcity  and  pungency 
of  his  style,  he  is  willing  to  be  inartistic  when  it 
comes  to  the  unfolding  of  his  theme.  He  indulges  in 
repetitions,  and  jumps  rapidly,  without  logical  tran- 
sition, from  one  aspect  of  his  subject  to  the  other. 
To  the  general  refrain  that  all  is  vanity,  he 
frequently  adds  the  corollary  that  life  is  a  game 
of  "chasing  after  wind" — a  most  picturesque 
phrase  to  illustrate  the  foolishness  of  ambition, 
which  is  as  unsatisfactory  as  the  attempt  to  catch 
the  wind.  Wisdom  is  chosen  as  the  first  illustra- 
tion to  prove  that  life  is  an  empty  bubble.  What 
does  one  gain  by  being  as  wise  as  Solomon,  by 
acquiring  knowledge  in  excess  of  anyone  else? 
The  ambition  itself  is  a  mischievous  impulse  that 
God  has  implanted  in  the  human  breast  merely  to 
worry  and  torture  man  (i.  13),  for  the  more  one 

126 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

knows,  the  unhappier  one  becomes  on  recognizing 
through  one's  wisdom  how  unsatisfying  are  all  the 
fleeting  pleasures  of  this  world.  When  you  come  to 
examine  them,  sport  and  mirth  become  synony- 
mous with  folly  and  madness  (ii.  2).  The  thought 
in  Koheleth's  mind  seems  to  be  that  the  man  who 
becomes  wise  and  who  attains  to  real  knowledge 
inevitably  recognizes  that  the  pursuit  of  happiness 
must  end  in  ennui.  One  grows  tired  of  life,  as  na- 
ture becomes  tired  of  everlastingly  doing  the  same 
things.  Monotony  in  nature  is  paralleled  by  ennui 
in  human  life. 

Ah,  but  perhaps  the  reason  why  happiness 
does  not  satisfy  one  is  because  one  does  not  get 
enough  of  it.  On  the  contrary,  says  Koheleth,  the 
more  one  gets,  the  less  does  it  satisfy;  and,  as  an 
illustration,  he  sets  forth  in  detail  all  the  possible 
pleasures  that  a  man  could  have.  Almost  reveal- 
ing his  disguise  for  King  Solomon,  Koheleth  gives 
a  picture  of  the  reign  of  that  king  as  embellished 
by  legend  and  extravagant  tradition.^'  Solomon 
arrayed  in  all  his  glory  is  brought  before  us — the 
king  of  superior  wisdom  and  unlimited  power,  able 
to  command  whatever  pleased  his  fancy.  The  test  is 
complete  because,  when  one  can  obtain  everything, 
one  is  in  a  position  to  note  the  net  result  of  satis- 
fying one's  desires  to  the  full.  What  does  Koheleth 
as  king  find  after  building  palaces  and  laying  out 
parks    and   reservoirs,   after  surrounding   himself 

"  The  picture  accords  with  the  description  of  Solomon's  wealth, 
his  large  retinue  and  building  activities  as  set  forth  in  I  Kings,  Chapters  ix 
and  X. 

127 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

with  an  enormous  household  with  plenty  of  ser- 
vants, and  with  singers  and  musicians  to  cater  to 
his  pleasure  to  the  full,  and  after  indulging  his 
taste  in  women?  He  grows  weary.  Life  does  not 
satisfy  him.  The  monotony  of  it  all  tires  him,  for 
though  every  day  may  bring  its  own  round  of 
pleasures  and  festivities  and  homage,  the  variety  is 
exhausted  after  a  while,  and  the  ever  revolving 
circle  begins  anew.  The  refrain  "All  is  vanity  and 
chasing  after  wind"  introduced  here  (ii.  ii)  to 
which  Koheleth  adds  "nothing  was  worth  while" 
strikes  home  with  special  force,  because  of  the 
completeness  of  the  test,  for  surely  the  experiment 
of  life  could  not  be  made  under  more  favorable 
circumstances.  No  one  can  get  more  out  of  life 
than  a  king.  The  example  enables  us  to  specify 
the  vanity  of  existence  as  due  to  two  causes,  first 
because  there  is  no  goal  in  all  one's  activities  and 
pleasures,  and  secondly  because  one  necessarily 
grows  tired  of  both  after  some  time.  Without  a 
goal,  without  real  progress,  life  must  be  empty — 
and  Koheleth  is  frank  enough  to  assert  that  it  is 
empty.  However,  he  leaves  us  one  consolation — 
wisdom  is  better  than  folly,  for  through  wisdom, 
which  gives  light,  one  at  least  can  see  the  vanity  of 
it  all,  whereas  folly  is  darkness.  This  reservation 
is  characteristic  of  Koheleth.  It  emphasizes  the 
gentleness  of  his  cynicism.  He  retains  his  good 
humor,  and  therefore  warns  us  against  the  con- 
clusion which  would  be  natural  to  a  morose  spirit, 
that   one    might  as  well    be   foolish   as   be  wise. 

128 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

No,  says  Koheleth,  do  not  be  so  foolish  as  to  sup- 
pose that  it  is  better  to  be  mad  than  to  be  sane. 
Keep  your  sanity  so  that  you  may  go  through  life 
with  a  clear  vision.  To  be  sure,  you  must  not  expect 
any  advantage  from  not  being  a  fool,  for  the  same 
end  meets  both  the  wise  and  the  one  who  is  not 
wise.  Both  will  be  forgotten  and  the  one  dies  pre- 
cisely as  does  the  other  (ii.  i6). 

XVIII 

ANCIENT  AND  LATER  BELIEFS  REGARDING 
THE  DEAD 

This  thought  that  there  is  a  common  fate  in 
store  for  all — oblivion — is  a  corollary  to  the  view 
which  declares  that  life  must  end  in  ennui.  There 
is  no  goal  to  death  any  more  than  to  life.  If  death 
led  to  anything  further,  Koheleth's  system,  so 
far  as  he  has  one,  would  fall  to  pieces.  He  dwells 
upon  this  common  end  to  all  alike  and  goes  so  far 
as  to  question  (iii.  19-21)  whether  man's  spirit 
has  a  destiny  superior  to  that  of  the  beast.  Ac- 
cepting the  point  of  view  which  is  also  orthodox 
doctrine  (Genesis  iii.  19),  that  man  is  of  the  dust  and 
to  dust  returns,  Koheleth  sees  no  reason  why  this 
does  not  also  hold  good  of  animals.  So  he  concludes 
of  man  as  of  beasts  that  "all  go  to  one  place"  (iii. 
20).  Our  author  thus  shares  the  belief  which  was 
common  to  Semites,  that  the  dead  are  gathered  in 
the  earth.  From  many  sources ^^  we  know  that  this 
gathering  place  was  conceived  of  as  a  great  cavern 

^*See  Jastrow,  "Hebrew  and  Babylonian  Traditions"  p.  197  et  seq. 
9  129 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

in  which  the  dead  lie  huddled  together — conscious 
but  inactive.  The  contribution  that  Koheleth 
makes  to  the  time-honored  conception  lies  in  the 
corollary  that  man's  end  is  not  superior  to  that  in 
store  for  the  beast.  And  yet  the  question  which  he 
poses  (iii.  2i) — "Who  knows  whether  the  spirit  of 
the  children  of  men  mounts  up  and  the  spirit  of  the 
beast  goes  down" — is  an  indication  that  the  author 
lived  in  an  age  which  had  passed  beyond  the  primi- 
tive conception  and  had  advanced  to  an  attempt  to 
differentiate  between  the  fate  in  store  for  the  dead. 
The  thought  of  a  heavenly  abode  for  at  least  some 
human  souls  must  have  been  current,  or  the 
question  would  be  an  idle  one.  Such  an  impHed 
differentiation  between  the  fate  of  those  favored  of 
God  and  that  of  those  who  do  not  secure  favor  is 
inherent  in  the  conception  of  a  divine  Providence, 
as  set  forth  by  the  great  prophets  of  the  eighth  and 
succeeding  centuries.  The  essential  feature  of  that 
conception  was,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the  national 
Yahweh  differs  from  other  tribal  protectors,  inas- 
much as  He  rules  the  world  according  to  standards 
of  justice  and,  therefore,  imposes  upon  those  who 
claim  to  be  His  adherents  the  obligation  to  regu- 
late their  lives  by  these  standards.  It  was  a  logical 
corollary  that  a  just  God  punishes  wrong  and 
rewards  virtue;  and  this  in  turn  led  to  an  extension 
of  the  exercise  of  divine  justice  beyond  the  grave. 
It  was  inconceivable  that  a  just  God  could  be  so 
inconsistent  as  to  consign  the  good  and  the  bad 
alike  to  the  same  fate.     To  be  sure,  as  long  as 

130 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Yahweh,  though  a  just  God,  was  tied  to  national 
limitations,  His  concern  was  mainly  for  the  group 
and  only  incidentally  for  the  individual  within  the 
group.  The  prophets  of  the  pre-exilic  period  are 
stirred  up  by  the  national  situation,  and  have  little 
concern  for  individuals,  except  in  so  far  as  the  dis- 
tressing political  turmoils  and  the  unsatisfactory 
social  conditions,  entailing  general  suffering  and 
aifecting  all  classes  of  the  inhabitants,  showed 
themselves  in  the  lives  of  individuals.  But  when, 
through  the  lessons  learned  by  the  temporary 
extinction  of  the  national  life,  the  conception  of  a 
national  Protector,  punishing  His  own  people,  be- 
cause they  did  not  measure  up  to  the  standards 
imposed  by  Him,  was  logically  enlarged  to  that  of 
the  single  Power  above  and  behind  the  phenomena 
of  the  universe,  the  individual  fell  under  the  control 
of  a  guiding  and  supervising  Providence,  equally 
with  the  group. 

This  process  of  an  equalization  between  the 
relations  of  the  individual  and  of  the  group  to  the 
universal  Jehovah  was  one  of  slow  growth,  and  it 
is  not  until  close  to  the  threshold  of  our  era  that 
we  encounter  the  definite  belief  in  a  reward  for  the  \ 
virtuous  after  death,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked.  Such  a  solution  offered 
the  only  satisfactory  answer  to  the  perplexing 
problem,  arising  out  of  the  conception  of  a  univer- 
sal Power  of  good  creating  a  world  for  the  exercise 
of  justice  and  the  promotion  of  righteousness.  It 
was  the  only  way  in  which  one  could  explain  the 

131 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

injustice  and  unmerited  suffering  so  manifest  in 
the  world.  In  the  Book  of  Job,  this  solution  is 
not  brought  forward,  though  suggested  in  a  fa- 
mous passage^^  that  represents  a  subsequent 
insertion,  and  that  has  in  addition  been  manipu- 
lated so  as  to  accord  more  fully  with  the  later 
beliefs.  By  the  time,  however,  that  Koheleth  was 
written  the  logical  sequence  was  drawn — at  least 
in  some  circles — that  the  innocent  suffering  of  the 
pious  in  this  world  would  be  compensated  by  the 
assurance  of  a  blessed  hereafter;  and  correspond- 
ingly that  the  wicked  would  meet  their  merited 
punishment  in  another  world,  if  they  successfully 
escaped  their  doom  in  this  one.  This  consideration 
of  itself  leads  us  to  place  Koheleth  after  Job ;  he  is 
separated  from  Job  by  about  a  century. 

There  are  some  scholars  who  are  inclined  to 
place  the  author  of  Koheleth  among  the  Saddu- 
cees,^^  because  this  Jewish  sect  denied  the  doc- 
trine of  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  in  contrast  to 
the  Pharisees  who  accepted  the  belief  as  a  corollary 
to  be  drawn  from  the  conception  of  a  just  God  in 
control  of  the  fate  of  mankind.  We  must  not, 
however,  press  Koheleth's  intimation  that  there  is 
no  difference  between  the  ultimate  fate  of  man 
and  that  in  store  for  the  beast  (iii.  19)  too  hard, 
certainly   not   to   the   point  of    making   him    an 


^^  Job  xix.  25-27.  The  verses  as  they  stand — particularly  v.  26 — fur- 
nish no  sense.  The  proof  of  this  is  to  be  seen  in  the  lack  of  agreement  among 
commentators,  with  each  one  proposing  a  solution  of  his  own  for  the  unin- 
telligible— because  corrupt — text. 

^^So particularly  Ludwig Levy,  "Das  Buch  Qoheleth"  (Leipzig,  1912). 

132 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

adherent  of  a  particular  school  of  thought.  He  is 
independent  of  any  school.  It  is  true,  however, 
as  we  know  from  other  sources,  that  the  Sadducees, 
as  the  more  conservative  as  well  as  the  more 
aristocratic  party,  clung  to  the  traditional  belief 
in  a  general  gathering  place  for  the  dead,  while 
the  Pharisees,  the  sect  of  the  people,  were  more 
progressive  in  yielding  to  the  further  development 
of  both  religion  and  practice  along  the  new  path 
mapped  out  by  the  prophet's  conception  of  divine 
government.  Personal  piety  as  a  means  of  securing 
divine  power  was  one  of  the  consequences  of  the 
new  doctrine.  Accordingly,  we  find  the  curious 
contradiction  in  the  Pharisaic  party  of  being  on 
the  one  hand  the  advocates  of  detailed  ceremonial- 
ism which  was  a  by-product  of  personal  piety,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  more  advanced  in  their  reli- 
gious thought. ■^^  This  involved  the  acceptance  of 
a  radically  different  view  of  life  after  death,  making 
not  only  a  distinction  between  the  fate  of  the  good 
and  that  of  the  wicked,  but  likewise  leading  to  a 
doctrine  of  rewards  and  punishments,  and  as  a  fur- 
ther and  logical  implication  to  the  unfolding  of  a 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  These 
three  aspects  of  life  after  death  follow  one  another 
in  a  natural  sequence.  The  passage  in  Koheleth 
is  proof  that,  at  the  time  of  the  appearance  of  the 
book,  a  special  place  for  the  dead  in  heaven,  in  con- 
trast to  the  subterranean  cave,  formed  part  of  the 

'^  For  further  details  of  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  the  reader  is 
referred  to  Schuerer,  "History  of  the  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  ii,  2,  pp.  10-43. 

133 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

new  belief,  though  again  we  must  be  warned  against 
pressing  the  language  too  hard. 

Koheleth  is  averse  to  speculation  as  to  the 
fate  of  the  dead.  He  realizes  that  the  new  doctrine 
rests  on  the  faith  in  a  Creator  who  is  bent  upon  the 
execution  of  justice,  but  with  his  eyes  directed 
towards  life  as  it  presents  itself  in  the  world, 
Koheleth  is  unwilling  to  pass  beyond  actual  expe- 
rience into  the  realm  of  nebulous  theological 
speculation,  albeit  the  doctrines  derived  from  such 
speculations  may  be  reinforced  by  logical  deduc- 
tions from  certain  premises.  Koheleth  is  not  for 
that  reason  atheistically  inclined.  Far  from  it. 
The  word  God  occurs  no  less  than  nineteen  times  in 
the  genuine  portions  of  this  little  book.  He  never 
questions  the  existence  of  a  supreme  Power  and 
the  fact  that  he  uses  the  generic  name  for  deity 
(Elohim)'^  and  never  the  specific  name  (Yahweh) 
of  the  national  deity  is  a  welcome  indication  that 
he  has  passed  beyond  the  stage  of  any  narrow 
nationalistic  conception  in  his  religious  attitude. 
God  for  him  is  a  Power  of  universal  scope,  as  in 
general  he  has  thrown  off  any  particularistic  view 
which  would  single  out  one  people  as  standing  in  a 
specifically  close  relation  to  the  Deity.  He  is  a 
Jew  of  the  broadest  type  without  a  trace  of  sec- 
tarianism. Koheleth  never  speaks  of  a  chosen 
people,  but  always  of  the  "children  of  men,"  that 
is,  mankind  as  a  whole.  As  a  Sadducee,  he  would 
have  betrayed  his  particularism  at  some  point  or 

'*  See  the  comment  to  i.  13  (p.  203). 
134 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  other.  He  is  a  theist,  because  atheism  would 
have  appeared  to  him  to  be  an  illogical  assump- 
tion of  a  world  coming  into  existence  without 
cause  and  ruled  by  a  blind  mechanism.  The  God 
of  Koheleth,  however,  is  not  endowed  with  any 
moral  attributes.  He  represents  the  Power  that  is 
behind  all  phenomena,  but  a  Power  who,  so  far  as 
man  is  concerned,  is  beyond  knowledge,  whose 
ways  are  hidden  from  mankind  and  whom  man 
cannot  by  searching  hope  to  know.  Koheleth  is 
consistently  averse  to  speculation  either  about 
nature,  life,  man  or  God.  He  merely  asks  us  to  be 
frank  enough  to  look  at  life  as  it  is.  Everything 
lying  beyond  the  evidence  of  our  senses  and  out- 
side of  the  realm  of  experience  is  unknown  and 
unknowable.  God,  he  says  (i.  13),  has  implanted 
in  us  the  desire  to  know  things,  He  has  given  us 
(iii.  11)  the  capacity  to  grasp  the  world  with  our 
intellect,  but  without  the  power  to  carry  our 
search  to  any  satisfactory  conclusion.  Again 
and  again  he  impresses  upon  us  the  hopelessness 
of  fathoming  the  mysteries  of  existence. "  Man  can- 
not know  "the  work  of  God  who  makes  all  things. "^° 
Judging  solely  by  the  evidence  of  our  senses,  death 
appears  to  be  the  end  of  man  as  of  the  beast.  The 
common  experience  teaches  us  that  the  future 
is  hidden  from  us,  and  that  through  wisdom 
we  are  not  brought  nearer  to  a  penetration  into 
God's  work. 


"Chapter  iii.  II ;  vii.  14;  viii,  17;  ix.  12. 
«»  Chapter  xi.  5. 

135 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Looking  at  life  as  it  actually  presents  itself, 
there  are  only  two  conclusions  that  can  be  safely 
drawn,  one  that  mere  ambition  is  useless,  since 
it  brings  neither  happiness  nor  illumination,  and 
the  other  that  life  is  made  for  enjoyment.  Both 
conclusions  are  set  forth  at  the  close  of  the 
decisive  test  which  Koheleth  undertook,  only  to 
find  out  that  all  achievements  and  all  pleasures 
end  in  ennui.  Since,  moreover,  there  is  a  common 
fate  to  all — to  the  wise  and  the  foolish  alike — 
(ii.  i6;  ix.  2)  the  more  logical  corollary  would  be 
to  regard  life  itself  as  useless.  Koheleth  actually 
says  so  in  one  place  (ii.  17),  "I  hated  life,  for  all 
that  happened  under  the  sun  seemed  evil  to  me, 
since  all  was  vanity  and  chasing  after  wind,"  but 
it  is  the  only  passage  in  the  book  in  which  this 
thought  is  expressed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Kohe- 
leth loves  life,  and  this  inconsistency,  of  which 
there  are  other  examples,  adds  to  the  charm  of  the 
book.  "As  a  living  dog,"  runs  a  passage  that 
has  become  famous,  "one  is  better  off  than  a  dead 
lion"  (ix.  4).  His  reason  for  giving  the  preference 
to  the  dog  is,  to  be  sure,  not  very  comforting — 
nor  complimentary  to  the  dog — "for  the  living" 
— he  adds — "at  least  know  that  they  will  die, 
whereas  the  dead  know  absolutely  nothing." 
His  pessimism,  however,  is  only  skin  deep  and, 
like  most  pessimists,  he  clings  to  life.  Job,  who 
is  not  a  pessimist,  for  a  moment  may  think  of 
suicide  as  a  means  of  putting  an  end  to  his  suf- 
ferings.    The  suggestion  is  made  to  him  by  his 

136 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

wife,"  but  he  rejects  it.  Koheleth  may  talk  about 
hating  life.  He  may  praise  the  dead  as  better  off 
than  those  who  are  alive  and  add  "better  than 
both  is  the  one  who  has  not  yet  been,  who  has  not 
seen  the  evil  happenings  under  the  sun"  (iv.  3), 
but  he  does  not  really  think  this.  Pessimists  talk 
that  way,  but  there  are  few  instances  of  pessimists 
deliberately  shuffling  off  the  mortal  coil  against 
which  they  rail.  They  get  rid  of  any  suicidal  ten- 
dencies by  writing  long  disquisitions  on  the  use- 
lessness  of  life.  Schopenhauer,  the  most  eminent 
of  modern  pessimists,  is  a  notable  example  of  the 
care  which  pessimists  take  to  preserve  their  health. ^^ 
In  reality,  the  pessimist  believes  with  Koheleth 
(xi.  7)  "Light  is  sweet  and  it  is  pleasant  for  the 
eyes  to  see  the  sun."  The  real  Koheleth  reveals 
himself  in  this  sentiment,  as  in  the  advice  to  "eat 
drink,  and  be  merry"  which  repeated  half  a  dozen 
times  forms^^  the  supplement  to  the  constant 
refrain,    "All  is  vanity  and  chasing  after  wind." 

To  hate  all  ambition,  however,  is  consistent 
with  the  conclusion  that  finds  in  enjoyment  the 
solace  for  life's  misery.  Accordingly  Koheleth 
emphasizes  the  reason  for  "hating"  all  his  toil 
(ii.  18).  Why  make  work  the  aim  and  content  of 
life,  since  all  that  you  obtain  in  return  for  your 
trouble  and  vexation  is  the  doubtful  privilege  of 
leaving  what  you  have  acquired  to  someone  who 
will  enjoy  it  without  having  worked  for  it  (ii.  19).? 

"  Chapter  ii.  9  "Curse  God  and  die" — an  euphemism  for  "do  away  with 
thyself." 

^-It  is  well  known  that  Schopenhauer  had  a  horror  of  death. 
®See  note  84. 

137 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

You  may  be  wise,  but  the  chances  are  that  your 
heir  will  be  a  fool;  and  at  all  events  your  days  of 
pain  and  nights  of  worry  are  all  to  no  purpose. 
Again  (iii.  1-2  and  9),  since  everything  that  hap- 
pens is  foreordained  to  occur  at  the  time  proper 
to  it,  why  exert  yourself  since  what  is  to  happen 
will  take  place,  independently  of  any  efforts  on 
your  part.  Man  labors,  Koheleth  tells,  either  from 
the  ambition  to  outstrip  his  fellows  (iv.  4),  or  to 
amass  wealth  (v.  9).  Both  motives  are  "vanity 
and  chasing  after  wind."  What  possible  satisfac- 
tion can  there  be  in  rivalry?  Surely  cooperation 
is  better  than  competition,  for  as  the  commentator 
to  the  passage  (iv.  9-12)  emphasizes,  with  a  partner 
instead  of  a  rival  your  business  will  grow  in  amount 
and  you  will  be  less  liable  to  collapse  in  case  of 
business  failure.  It  will  be  easier  to  get  on  your 
feet  again  with  the  help  of  a  partner.  In  the 
struggle  for  life,  two  against  one  have  a  better 
chance  than  one  against  two.  As  for  wealth  (v.  10), 
the  more  you  have,  the  greater  the  obligations 
that  are  imposed  upon  you.  Your  household 
increases.  Others  live  on  your  profits,  and  your 
only  satisfaction  is  to  look  at  what  you  have 
amassed — a  melancholy  reward  for  all  your  toil. 

XIX 

A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

Is  it  logical  to  conclude  from  premises  such  as 
these,  as  Koheleth  does,  that  "There  is  nothing 
better  for  man  to  do  than  'to  eat,  drink,  and  to 

138 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

have  a  good  time' "  ?  ^*  Hardly.  If  he  were  a  consis- 
tent pessimist,  he  would  urge  his  readers  "to  hate 
life,"  as  he  inadvertently  does  in  one  passage.^^  His 
advice  would  be  to  escape  life,  by  suicide  or  by 
withdrawing  from  all  the  idle  pleasures  of  the 
world.  But  asceticism  is  as  far  removed  from 
Koheleth's  frame  of  mind,  as  is  the  Buddhistic 
doctrine  of  making  life  a  preparation  for  complete 
extinction,  without  the  consciousness  that,  ac- 
cording to  Semitic  beliefs,  follows  man  beyond  the 
grave.  It  is  precisely  in  the  corollary  "eat,  drink, 
and  be  merry"  to  the  refrain  of  "all  is  vanity," 
that  Koheleth  reveals  himself  as  the  gentle  cynic. 
Do  not  take  life  seriously,  or  at  all  events  not  too 
seriously,  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  his  philos- 
ophy. Even  enjoyment  must  not  be  taken  too 
seriously.  You  will  tire  of  it,  as  Solomon  grew 
weary  of  all  his  pleasures,  but  it  is  the  best  thing 
that  you  can  do  under  the  circumstances.  Life 
has  no  goal — therefore,  smile  at  life,  and  pity 
those  who  live  under  the  delusion  that  life  is  a 
very  serious  business.  This  ironical  attitude  to- 
wards the  fleeting  panorama  of  human  existence 
naturally  aroused  the  opposition  of  the  pious  and 
orthodox  towards  the  book.  By  his  illogical  con- 
clusion, he  aimed  a  fatal  blow  at  the  whole  structure 
of  Judaism  which  rests  on  the  belief  in  man  as 
God's  choicest  handiwork — the  crowning  act  of 
creation,  placed  here  by  a  just  and  good  Providence. 

^  Chapter  ii.  24  and  repeated  with  variations  iii.  12-13  ^'^^  22;  v.  17; 
viji.  15;  \x.  7-10;  xi.  7-10. 
"  See  above  p.  136. 

139 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

"Life  is  real,  life  is  earnest"  was  the  doctrine  that 
grew  up  out  of  the  prophet's  conception  of  relig- 
ion. Koheleth  says  that  life  is  a  shadow,  without 
substance.  It  cannot  be  earnest  because  it  has  no 
aim.  But  why,  then,  enjoyment  as  the  best  way 
of  spending  one's  days  on  earth?  Simply,  because 
there  is  nothing  else  to  do,  certainly  nothing 
better.  Koheleth  does  not  preach  happiness  as 
the  goal  of  life,  but  as  the  only  means  of  not  being 
overwhelmed  by  the  sadness  of  life,  which  must 
ensue  if  you  have  the  courage  to  look  at  things  as 
they  are. 

Without  formulating  a  system — which  would 
be  distasteful  to  Koheleth's  light  and  easy-going 
nature — he  proceeds  to  show  that  his  advice  is 
in  accord  with  God's  plans  for  man,  so  far  as  we 
can  detect  any  plan.  Unless  we  try  to  forget  what 
life  really  is  by  enjoying  our  days,  we  involve 
ourselves  in  a  tangle  of  arguments  from  which 
there  is  no  escape.  He  has  already  proved^^  that 
work  cannot  be  the  purpose  of  life,  for  work  ends 
in  leaving  the  fruits  of  your  labors  to  those  who 
will  care  nothing  about  you.  You  will  be  forgotten, 
while  others  enjoy.  Nor  can  the  purpose  of  life  be 
to  ascertain  the  meaning  of  existence,  to  contem- 
plate the  works  of  God  and  penetrate  to  the  core 
of  things.  God  is  past  finding  out.  Man  cannot 
know  what  God  is  doing  (iii.  ii).  The  future  is 
hidden  from  man  as  behind  a  veil,  and  though  a 
wise  man  may  think  that  he  has  solved  the  riddle 

"•  See  above,  p.  137. 

140 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

of  the  universe,  it  is  a  delusion  pure  and  simple 
(viii.  17),  All  that  man  can  ascertain  as  the  result 
of  his  search  through  wisdom  and  knowledge  is 
that  the  happenings  of  this  world  are  preordained 
by  God  and  take  place  in  the  order  and  at  the 
time  determined  by  the  great  Power  who  governs 
all  things — in  nature  and  in  human  existence.  Is 
Koheleth  then  a  fatalist?  Surely,  but  he  is  as  in- 
consistent in  his  fatalism  as  in  his  pessimism. 
The  time  when  a  man  is  to  be  born  is  fixed  as  is  the 
time  of  his  death  (iii.  2) — fixed  as  definitely  as  the 
time  for  sowing  seeds  and  for  pulling  up  the  ri- 
pened plant.  If  everything  is  preordained,  it  is 
idle  to  make  the  effort  to  change  things.  Koheleth's 
conclusion  from  his  fatalistic  outlook  upon  life  is 
to  discourage  those  who  believe  that  the  aim  of  life 
is  to  work  for  reforms  and  improvement,  to  leave 
the  world  better  than  they  found  it,  even  though 
it  be  only  a  trifle  better. 

Such  an  aim  is  an  idle  hope — "vanity  and 
chasing  after  wind" — as  much  as  is  the  search  for 
wisdom  and  the  amassing  of  wealth.  It  is  a  delu- 
sion to  suppose  that  one  can  really  do  anything  in 
a  world  entirely  controlled  by  a  supreme  Spirit — 
aye,  it  is  presumptuous  to  make  the  attempt.  Man 
can  add  nothing  to  what  God  does,  as  little  as  he 
can  take  anything  away  (iii.  14).  To  try  "to  make 
that  straight  which  He  {i.e.,  God)  has  made 
crooked"  (vii.  13)  is  to  interfere  with  God's  plans, 
to  play  the  part  of  Providence.  You  must  content 
yourself  with  taking  things  as  they  are,   and   to 

141 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

remember  that  prosperity  and  adversity  (or  what 
you  consider  as  such)  are  both  the  work  of  God 
(vii.  14).  As  for  the  meaning  of  this  constant 
alternation  of  joy  and  sorrow,  abandon  the  effort 
to  fathom  the  mystery.  God  purposely  permits 
the  one  to  follow  the  other,  so  as  to  prevent  you 
from  divining  the  future.  With  this  thought  that 
God  does  not  want  man  to  solve  the  problem  of 
life,  Koheleth  may  be  said  to  have  reached  the 
extreme  point  of  separation  from  the  orthodox  and 
conventional  point  of  view,  not  so  much,  however, 
in  the  thought  itself  as  in  his  manner  of  putting  it. 
That  God's  ways  are  past  finding  out  was  good 
orthodox  doctrine,  following  upon  the  spiritual  con- 
ception of  a  divine  Providence  who  works  in  a 
mysterious  way,  but  with  the  doctrine  went  the 
faith  that  a  good  and  just  God  must  do  all  things 
for  the  best.  At  this  point,  Koheleth  parts  com- 
pany from  orthodoxy  and  boldly  asserts  that  from 
the  evidence  furnished  by  human  experience  one 
has  no  warrant  for  such  faith.  If  things  are  pre- 
ordained, it  not  only  follows  that  it  is  presump- 
tuous to  look  upon  one's  aim  in  life  to  bring  about 
an  improvement  in  the  lot  of  mankind,  to  correct 
abuses,  to  help  the  needy,  to  instruct  the  ignorant, 
to  correct  the  erring,  but  it  also  follows  that  you 
must  take  things  as  they  are  and  as  they  come. 

Now  what  do  we  actually  find  in  the  world 
in  which  we  live  and  have  our  being  ."^  The  cynic, 
though  still  a  gentle  one,  steps  in  and  tells  us. 
How  is  it  possible  to  believe  that  the  world  is 

142 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

governed  by  a  just  Power  when  we  encounter — 
as  we  constantly  do — wickedness  enthroned  where 
righteousness  should  be  (iii.  i6)  and  oppression 
everywhere  with  no  relief  in  sight  (iv.  i)?  Kohe- 
leth  is  aware  of  the  stock  argument,  which  is  also 
brought  forward  in  the  Book  of  Job  to  justify  a 
topsy-turvy  world,  by  saying  that  suffering  and 
the  apparent  triumph  of  wrong  is  permitted  by 
God  as  a  test  of  man's  calibre  and  that  in  the 
end — as  the  commentator  adds  (iii.  17) — God  will 
judge  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  with  the  im- 
plication that  the  innocent  sufferers  will  receive 
their  reward  for  having  endured  the  test,  and  that 
the  wrongdoers  will  meet  their  punishment.  What 
is  the  value  of  such  a  test,  asks  Koheleth,  as  a 
means  of  ascertaining  who  are  genuinely  virtuous 
and  God-fearing  and  who  are  not.''  What  does 
such  a  test  show  except  that  man  is  as  the  beast  .f* 
Some  beasts  are  happy  because  they  are  permitted 
to  lead  a  peaceful  life,  others  are  hunted  down 
through  no  fault  of  their  own.  The  inequality  in 
the  fortunes  of  men  is  of  the  same  order  and — what 
makes  the  analogy  complete — man  and  beast  die 
alike.  "All  are  of  the  dust  and  all  return  to  dust." 
There  is  no  assurance  that  man's  spirit  ascends 
after  death,  and  that  the  spirit  of  the  beast  de- 
scends (iv.  21).  Koheleth's  argument  is  that  the 
test  made  by  God  is  to  no  purpose,  since  there 
is  no  recompense  for  suffering  and  injustice.  The 
virtuous  die  under  the  test,  and  the  wicked  thrive 
despite  the  test. 

143 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

The  test,  therefore,  merely  ends  in  the  cer- 
tainty that  man  and  beast  share  the  same  fate. 
Were  Koheleth  a  genuine  pessimist,  he  might  have 
urged  the  chilly  consolation  of  the  Stoic  that  one 
should  be  resigned  to  one's  fate  and  suffer  in  pa- 
tience, but  he  is  too  human  not  to  be  deeply 
stirred  by  the  sufferings  of  mankind.  Briefly  but 
eloquently  he  describes  the  sad  contrast  between 
"the  tears  of  the  oppressed  without  anyone  to 
console  them"  and  the  violence  of  their  oppressors 
(iv.  i).  Tears  versus  Power — such  is  the  world  in 
which  men  live.  So  it  has  always  been  and  so  it 
will  continue  to  be.  Are  not  the  dead  happier, 
therefore,  because  relieved  of  suffering  and  of  the 
sight  of  suffering.'*  Are  not  those  happiest  of  all 
who  have  never  been  born  ?  We  know  that  Kohe- 
leth does  not  think  so,  but  he  puts  the  question  in 
order  to  illustrate  more  forcibly  the  point  that  he 
has  in  mind,  to  wit,  that  there  is  no  satisfactory 
solution  to  the  problem  with  which  the  author  of 
Job  grapples — the  reason  for  the  triumph  of  wrong, 
and  for  unjust  suffering  in  a  world  created  by  a 
good  Power,  who  stamps  His  creation  with  His 
trade-mark  "And  God  saw  that  it  was  good."  The 
problem,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  arises  only  with 
the  advanced  conception  of  divine  government 
of  the  universe,  which  replaces  the  old  view  of 
many  gods  as  personifications  of  the  powers  man- 
ifesting themselves  in  nature — the  power  of  the 
sun,  the  power  of  fire,  the  power  of  the  earth,  of  the 
storm  or  what  not — by  a  single  Force,  spiritually 

144 


A   GENfLE  CTNIC 

conceived  in  terms  of  ethics.  The  chief  attribute  of 
the  old  gods  is  strength,  as  against  justice  tempered 
with  mercy  and  love  which  are  the  attributes  of 
the  spiritual  Being,  presiding  over  the  destinies  of 
mankind.  As  long  as  Yahweh  was  merely  the 
national  deity  of  the  Hebrews,  whose  protection 
and  supervision  were  limited  to  one  particular 
group,  the  arbitrariness  of  his  activity  was  taken 
for  granted.  He  had  his  favorites  and  he  could 
manifest  his  anger  at  his  pleasure.  The  task  of  his 
worshippers  was  limited  to  efforts  to  secure  his 
protection  by  bribes  in  the  form  of  sacrifices,  and 
by  flatteries  in  the  form  of  incantations  and 
direct  appeals.  But  when  Yahweh  becomes  a 
Being  who  demands  obedience  to  high  ethical 
standards  as  a  condition  of  His  favor,  the  corollary 
is  necessarily  drawn  that  God  Himself  is  good  and 
just.  Such  a  Being  cannot  brook  injustice,  because 
contrary  to  the  self-imposed  laws  by  means  of 
which  He  rules  the  universe.  At  this  stage  the 
vexing  problem  arises  with  which  religious  minds 
ever  since  have  grappled,  how  to  reconcile  the  ex- 
istence of  evil  and  injustice  in  the  world  with  the 
conception  of  a  good  and  just  God.  The  author 
of  the  book  of  Job  struggles  earnestly  and  pathet- 
ically with  this  momentous  question.  The  author 
of  Koheleth  tackles  it  lightly  and  in  a  semi-ironical 
spirit.  He  holds  the  mirror  up  to  the  real  world 
and  asks  us  to  look  at  the  image  reflected  therein. 
Both  Job  and  Koheleth,  however,  represent 
the  reaction  on  those  who  had  the  courage  to  face 

10  145 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  facts  of  existence  against  what  had  come  to 
be  the  conventional  religious  view  of  a  world  in 
which — as  was  assumed — goodness  and  justice 
must  be  triumphant,  because  the  supreme  Ruler 
possesses  these  attributes.  The  Book  of  Job  in  its 
original  form  ends  in  a  non  liquet,  in  a  practical 
admission  that  the  problem  is  insoluble  with  a 
faint  suggestion,  however,  as  a  crumb  of  comfort, 
that  what  may  be  hidden  from  us  may  neverthe- 
less rest  on  a  basis  of  divine  equity.  There  may  be 
a  compensation  for  innocent  suffering,  but  such  a 
possibility  is  concealed  behind  a  thick  mist  through 
which  the  human  mind  cannot  penetrate.  Koheleth 
says — why  try  to  solve  the  problem.^  It  will  be  of 
no  use,  for  arguments  cannot  change  facts,  and  the 
solution,  if  one  could  be  found,  will  not  mitigate 
the  injustice  and  suffering  in  the  world.  It  does 
not  ease  Job's  pain  when  suffering  the  tortures  of 
the  damned  to  be  told  that  it  is  all  a  test — even 
if  it  were  true;  and  it  would  only  increase  his 
misery  to  become  convinced  that  he  must  have 
committed  some  misdeed,  which  is  certainly  not 
true,  for  the  point  is  that  Job  was  "God  fearing 
and  removed  from  evil."  By  all  means,  believe 
in  a  just  and  merciful  Providence  if  you  can,  says 
Koheleth,  but  be  frank  enough  to  recognize  that 
you  "cannot  fathom  the  work  of  God  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end"  (iii.  li).  Do  not  delude 
yourself  with  high-sounding  phrases  that  are  empty 
of  meaning.  The  jargon  of  the  pious  merely  serves 
to  close  your  eyes  to  the  wrongs  that  are  being 

146 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

done,  and  to  shut  your  ears  against  hearing  the 
pitiful  cries  of  those  who  suffer  for  no  good  reason. 
Tears  versus  Power — such  is  the  world. 

One  thing,  however,  we  do  know,  namely, 
that  joy  makes  life  bearable;  and  since  everything 
that  happens  is  ordained  of  God,  happiness  should 
be  looked  upon  as  a  "gift  of  God"  (iii.  13,  v.  18), 
it  comes  from  "the  hand  of  God"  (ii.  24)  and  is 
"man's  portion"  (iii.  22).  Joy  is  approved  by  God 
(v.  19);  it  is  a  sign  that  "God  approves  of  man's 
works"  (ix.  7).  The  variations  in  the  expressive 
phrase  used  by  Koheleth  to  justify  his  conclusion 
that  man  should  spend  his  life  in  joy  are  not  acci- 
dental; they  are  introduced  to  emphasize  in  every 
possible  way  that  the  one  thing  certain  among  the 
uncertainties  of  the  world  is — happiness. 

XX 

KOHELETH  AND  GREEK  THOUGHT 

Is  Koheleth  to  be  called  a  Hedonist — an 
adherent  of  the  philosophy  that  looked  upon 
"pleasure"  (hedone)  as  the  aim  of  life.''  Is  he  a 
follower  of  Epicurus,  because  of  his  oft-repeated 
advice  to  "eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,"  which  he 
carries  so  far  as  to  urge  the  young  to  "follow  the 
inclinations  of  their  minds  and  the  sight  of  their 
eyes"  (xi.  9).'*  Some  scholars  have  seen  in  this 
aspect  of  Koheleth's  attitude  toward  life  the  reflex 
of  Greek  philosophy,  as  they  also  attribute  his 
skepticism  in  regard  to  a  just  Providence  to  the 
spread  of  Greek  philosophy  among  the  Jews.   No 

H7 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

doubt  Greek  thought,  as  a  significant  phase  of 
Greek  culture,  must  have  made  its  influence  felt  in 
Palestine  where  Koheleth  lived,  with  the  influx  of 
Greek  ideas,  with  the  adoption  of  Greek  forms  of 
government  and  the  imitation  of  Greek  modes  of 
life  throughout  the  Orient  after  the  conquests  of 
Alexander  the  Great  (334-323  b.c).  The  Greek 
spirit, we  have  seen, tended  towards  individualism;" 
it  promoted  independent  thought,  leading  on  the 
one  hand  to  the  definite  recognition  of  authorship 
in  literary  production,  and  on  the  other  to  the  rise 
of  systems  of  philosophy,  associated  with  indi- 
vidual thinkers — Pythagoras,  Heraclitus,  Demo- 
critus,  Epicurus,  Zeno,  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aris- 
totle. The  chief  outcome,  however,  of  Greek  cul- 
ture in  the  intellectual  domain  was,  outside  of  art, 
the  giving  rise  to  the  scientific  spirit,  substituting 
astronomy  for  astrology  without,  to  be  sure,  sup- 
pressing the  latter  entirely,  giving  to  medicine, 
up  to  that  time  a  purely  empirical  art,  a  more  scien- 
tific aspect  by  the  study  of  anatomy  and  physiol- 
ogy, and  promoting  the  exact  study  of  the  forces 
of  nature  and  the  structure  of  animals.  Koheleth 
betrays  to  a  considerable  extent  the  influence  of 
this  scientific  spirit.  His  observations  on  nature, 
especially  in  the  introduction  to  the  book,  lead 
him  to  recognize  the  invariability  of  the  laws  of 
the  universe.  He  knows  that  dreams  come  from 
too  much  business  (v.  2.),  that  is,  from  mental 
activity  continued  during  sleep.    The  interpreta- 

*'  See  above,  p.  39. 

148 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

tion  of  dreams  is,  therefore,  an  idle  pursuit.  Per- 
haps the  experience  that  overeating  is  not  condu- 
cive to  sleep  (v.  ii)  may  have  been  gained  without 
any  knowledge  of  the  reason  therefor,  but  certainly 
the  manner  of  stating  that  the  hard  worker  sleeps 
"whether  he  has  eaten  little  or  much"  sounds  as 
though  the  author  had  evolved  a  theory  of  the 
cause  of  sleep.  Significant  is  the  knowledge  of  the 
structure  of  the  body  and  the  function  of  the 
human  organs  revealed  in  the  impressive  closing 
chapter  of  the  book.^^  There  is  a  system  in  the 
successive  enumeration  of  the  hips,  legs,  teeth, 
eyes,  ears,  voice  and  hair,  as  in  the  recognition  of 
the  function  of  the  brain,  spine,  and  kidneys, 
though  veiled  under  poetic  metaphors.  On  the 
basis  of  this  chapter  Professor  Haupt  concludes 
that  Koheleth  must  have  been  a  physician, ^^ 
which  may  well  have  been  the  case.  Certainly  he 
must  have  known  something  of  the  theories  and 
experiments  of  the  Greek  schools  of  medicine, 
following  along  the  path  marked  out  by  Hippo- 
crates. We  also  know  from  the  discussions  of  the 
Rabbis  in  the  Talmud  that  the  Greek  systems  of 
philosophy  had  made  their  way  into  Palestine  and 
Babylonia  during  the  last  two  centuries  pre- 
ceding our  era,  while  in  Alexandria  we  note  the 
rise  of  a  system  of  philosophy  in  the  century  be- 
fore this  era,  which  attempts  to  reconcile  the 
speculations    and    conclusions    of   Greek   philoso- 

^  See  the  comments  to  this  chapter,  p.  238  et  seq. 
*^"The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes"  in  "Oriental  Studies"  (Philadelphia, 
1894)  p.  238  el  seq.,  p.  275  (note  60). 

149 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

phers  with  Jewish  theology,  and  of  which  we  find 
significant  traces  in  the  Gospel  of  John  and  in  the 
Pauline  epistles.^" 

The  spirit  of  Greek  philosophy  was  at  all 
times  hostile  to  the  prevailing  beliefs  among  the 
Greeks.  Plato  alone  appears  to  have  made  an 
attempt  to  save  some  fragments  out  of  the  wreck 
of  Greek  mythology,  through  the  rise  of  systems 
which  found  no  place  for  the  gods  of  ancient 
Greece.  The  tone  of  Koheleth  when  he  deals  with 
the  naive  conception  of  divine  government  that 
marked  the  pious  adherents  of  Judaism  is  not 
unlike  the  somewhat  patronizing  attitude  of  Greek 
philosophers  towards  the  conventional  religion, 
which  they  hardly  regarded  as  of  sufficient  mo- 
ment to  warrant  an  energetic  campaign  against  it. 
The  old  structure,  they  felt,  was  shaken  in  its 
foundations  and  was  destined  to  give  way  without 
any  direct  attack.  Koheleth  is  too  good-natured 
to  oppose  the  theology  that  arose  from  the  new 
conception  of  religion  brought  forward  by  the 
prophets.  He  tolerates  it,  but  he  shows  by  insinu- 
ation rather  than  by  any  polemical  disposition  how 
insufficient  it  is  as  a  means  of  explaining  the  actual 
conditions  of  life.  His  skepticism  is  of  an  easy- 
going character,  as  his  cynicism  is  always  gentle, 
with  only  an  occasional  sting.  In  his  general  atti- 
tude towards  the  Judaism  of  his  day,  which  on  the 
ceremonial  side — sacrifices  and  inquiries  of  priests 

5"  See  Schuerer,  "The  History  of  the  Jewish  People  in  the  time  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  ii.  3,  p.  381,  or  Edward  Caird,  "Evolution  of  Theology  in 
the  Greek  Philosophers,  ii.,  p.  357  i^'  ^^<1- 

150 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

as  to  the  significance  of  dreams  and  portents — 
was  full  of  survivals  of  primitive  points  of  view, 
we  may  recognize  the  influence  of  the  new  spirit 
that  had  come  into  the  land  with  the  advent  of 
the  Greeks.  But  we  must  not  press  this  influ- 
ence too  hard,  and  attempt  to  see  in  Koheleth's 
view  of  predestination  and  of  submission  to  fate 
the  teachings  of  the  Greek  Stoics,  or  make  him  an 
adherent  of  the  school  of  Heraclitus  or  Epicurus, 
because  of  his  advocacy  of  enjoyment  as  the  le- 
gitimate function  of  existence.  He  is  not  the  type 
of  mind  that  follows  strictly  and  consistently  any 
particular  school  of  thought.  He  goes  his  own  way 
in  setting  before  us  the  picture  of  the  world,  as  it  is 
reflected  in  his  mind.  Above  all,  he  would  lay  no 
claim  to  being  consistent.  We  have  seen  that  he 
does  not  draw  the  conclusion,  from  his  view  of  all 
things  being  predetermined  by  God,  that  man  lacks 
freedom  of  will.  It  is  doubtful  whether  he  would 
quite  have  understood  the  meaning  of  the  tech- 
nical term;  and  he  merely  goes  so  far  as  to  dis- 
courage the  effort  of  man  to  improve  things,  as 
though  this  were  the  aim  of  life.  That  is  not 
man's  business.  If  there  is  to  be  any  improvement 
— and  Koheleth  sees  no  evidence  for  this,  but 
merely  endless  repetition — it  must  be  left  to  God. 
Do  what  lies  immediately  before  you  and  do  it 
to  the  full,  "for  there  is  no  activity,  no  reckoning, 
no  knowledge  and  no  wisdom  in  Sheol  whither 
thou  goest"  (ix.  lo).  As  for  the  rest,  enjoy  your- 
self as  much  as  you  can. 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

It  is  sufficient,  therefore,  to  assume  that  con- 
tact with  Greek  culture  lent  a  stimulus  to  inde- 
pendent thought  among  the  Jews;  it  helped  to 
accentuate  the  difficulties  involved  in  accepting 
the  implications  of  a  faith  that  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  universe  a  Power  for  good,  but  who  per- 
mitted evil  to  flourish  in  a  world  of  His  making. 
The  problem  itself,  however,  was  a  Jewish  one, 
insofar  as  it  represented  the  reaction  against  the 
conventional  piety  which  grew  up  on  the  basis  of 
the  distinctively  ethical  monotheism  of  the  Jews. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  pass  outside  of  a  Jewish  en- 
vironment in  order  to  explain  either  the  trend  of 
Koheleth's  thought  or  his  conclusions,  beyond  the 
initial  impulse  towards  independent  thought  which 
through  the  spread  of  Greek  culture  in  the  Orient 
had  become  part  of  the  spirit  of  the  age.  Koheleth 
was  caught  by  the  Zeitgeist,  but  without  becom- 
ing an  adherent  of  any  particular  school — Greek 

or  otherwise. 

XXI 

KOHELETH'S  ATTITUDE  TOWARDS  THE  CULT 

The  further  justification  in  thus  regarding 
Koheleth  as  a  free  lance,  following  the  drift  of  his 
own  thought  into  whatever  direction  his  changing 
fancy,  his  good  humor,  and  his  human  sympathies 
— under  a  mask  of  gentle  irony — led  him,  is  to  be 
found  in  his  easy-going  and  not  altogether  con- 
sistent attitude  towards  religious  worship,  towards 
affairs  of  government,  tow^ards  women,  and  above 
all  in  his  view  that  although  enjoyment  of  life  is 

152 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  best  way  of  spending  one's  days,  yet  even  of 
this  one  will  tire,  and  finally  that  toil  is  to  be  joined 
to  sipping  the  honey  out  of  the  flower  of  existence. 

To  go  to  the  temple  for  the  purpose  of  offering 
sacrifices  is  from  Koheleth's  rationalistic  point  of 
view  a  waste  of  time  (iv.  17),  as  it  is  foolish  to  go  to 
the  priest  in  order  to  receive  an  interpretation  of  a 
dream  or  to  obtain  an  oracle  of  any  kind.  "God  is 
in  heaven  and  thou  art  upon  earth.  Therefore,  let 
thy  words  be  few"  (v.  i).  There  is  no  use  in  recit- 
ing long  formulas,  for  God  will  nevertheless  bring 
to  pass  what  is  going  to  happen.  The  priests  can- 
not help  you,  and  appeals  to  God  are  not  going  to 
change  His  plans.  That  is  bold  language,  and  for 
once  Koheleth  even  passes  beyond  the  bounds  of 
what  we  would  call  courteous  discussion  by  his 
insinuation  that  the  priest  is  a  fool  (iv.  17);  or  if 
it  is  not  the  priest  to  whom  the  epithet  is  applied, 
then  it  is  the  one  who  brings  the  sacrifice. 

To  be  sure,  Koheleth  makes  an  attempt  to 
take  off  the  keen  edge  of  his  sharp  attack  on  the 
senselessness  of  worship  by  suggesting  that  one 
should  "go  to  the  house  of  God  to  hear"  (iv.  17). 
One  is  tempted  to  conclude  from  this  that,  at  the 
time  that  Koheleth  wrote,  a  discourse  formed 
part  of  the  temple  service.  The  synagogue  as  the 
laymen's  temple  had  already  made  its  appearance 
in  the  second  century  before  our  era.^^  It  began  as 
an  "assembly" — such  is  the  meaning  of  sunagoge — 

"  See  Schuerer,  "The  History  of  the  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  ii.  2,  p.  S4  et  seq. 

IS3 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

of  laymen  for  the  study  of  the  Law.  Around  this 
study  a  religious  service  grew  up  and  on  certain 
days,  notably  on  the  Sabbath,  a  portion  of  the 
Law  was  expounded  for  the  benefit  of  the  public. 
This  practice  in  turn  became  the  starting-point  of 
the  sermon  as  a  feature  both  of  the  Jewish  and  of 
the  Christian  Church.  Whether  in  the  official 
center  of  worship  at  Jerusalem  where  priests 
officiated  and  sacrifices  were  brought,  the  custom 
of  expounding  the  law  had  also  been  introduced 
is  not  certain,  but  it  is  not  improbable  that  the 
example  of  the  synagogue  was  imitated  in  the 
"central"  sanctuary  as  an  innovation,  calculated 
to  increase  the  attachment  of  the  worshippers  to 
the  official  cult.  The  Law  at  all  events  was  read, 
and  Koheleth  puts  his  stamp  of  approval  on  this 
part  of  the  service.  To  listen  to  sound  advice, 
he  says,  can  do  you  only  good.  The  temple 
officials,  however,  could  hardly  have  been  satis- 
fied with  such  a  concession,  for  to  them  as  to 
the  orthodox  adherents  of  the  Judaism  of  the 
day  the  traditional  sacrifices,  as  perscribed  by 
the  Law,  constituted  the  essential  feature  of  the 
pubHc  cult. 

Koheleth,  again,  offended  the  priests  and  the 
laity  alike  by  his  evident  contempt  for  those  who 
rushed  to  the  temple  to  make  vows  which  in  many 
cases,  he  insinuates,  were  prompted  by  a  sudden 
emotion  only  to  be  forgotten  when  the  cause  for  the 
emotion  had  passed  by.  A  man  in  business  dis- 
tress or  in  trouble  of  some  other  kind  or  when 

IS4 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

seized  with  illness  might  make  a  vow  to  do  certain 
things  in  case  of  relief,  and  in  human  fashion  would 
forget  all  about  it  when  things  again  went  well. 
Koheleth's  irony  passes  over  into  biting  sarcasm 
when  he  suggests  that  the  one  who  is  reminded  of 
the  vow  will  pretend  that  it  was  a  slip — was  not 
seriously  meant  (v.  5).  Why  arouse  the  anger  of 
God  through  urging  lame  excuses,  when  the  fact 
is  that  you  merely  made  a  vow  in  the  hope  of  thus 
escaping  from  a  dangerous  crisis  ?  Koheleth  has  no 
patience  with  any  form  of  hypocrisy  or  self- 
deception.  It  is  clear  that  he  is  hitting  hard  at 
certain  evils  in  religion  which  must  have  been 
quite  common,  but  the  situation  that  he  depicts 
is  evidently  one  that  grew  out  of  the  decline  of  the 
hold  which  the  temple  and  its  cult  once  had  upon 
the  people.  The  pious  members  of  the  community 
had  begun  to  turn  to  the  synagogues,  which  became 
centers  of  serious  religious  study  and  were  destined 
to  be  the  bulwarks  of  Judaism  when  the  temple 
service  finally  came  to  an  end  upon  the  destruction 
of  the  sanctuary  in  70  a.d. 

Th^  references  in  the  Talmud  and  in  Josephus 
to  the  quarrels  among  the  priesthood  and  to  the 
growing  degeneracy  of  the  official  cult  confirm  the 
unfavorable  picture  that  we  obtain  from  the  New 
Testament  of  conditions  in  the  temple  at  Jeru- 
salem in  the  days  of  Jesus.  The  temple  ritual  rested 
on  a  foundation,  incompatible  with  the  worship  of 
a  spiritually  conceived  God  of  the  universe.  The 
force  of  tradition  and  the  practical  impossibility 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

of  a  religious  organization  to  cut  loose  from  old  as- 
sociations combined  to  reintroduce  a  cult  which  the 
pre-exilic  prophets  had  denounced  as  leading  to 
the  very  evils  which  again  flourished  in  Koheleth's 
days,  though  not  to  the  same  extent  as  in  the  days 
of  the  monarchy,  when  the  temple  was  purely  the 
adjunct  of  the  state.  The  synagogue  as  an  insti- 
tution is  an  outcome  of  post-exilic  Judaism;  the 
temple  is  a  survival  of  the  old  Yahwism  carried 
over  into  the  new  era.  Koheleth  would  approve  of 
the  synagogue  as  a  center  for  religious  study,  but 
he  can  see  no  purpose  in  an  institution  like  the 
temple,  with  rites  that  were  incompatible  with  the 
advanced  religious  ideas  which  had  spread  among 
the  people,  through  the  influence  of  the  prophets. 
For  all  that,  it  must  have  been  distasteful,  even  to 
those  who  recognized  the  justice  of  Koheleth's 
indictment  of  the  stupidity  or  hypocrisy  of  the 
priests  and  the  absurdity  of  the  temple  rites,  to 
have  the  truth  so  bluntly  put. 

XXII 

KOHELETH  ON  "REFORM,"  ROYALTY, 
AND  WOMAN 

Even  more  distasteful  to  the  powers  that  be 
must  have  been  Koheleth's  exposure  of  the  corrup- 
tion that,  according  to  him,  inevitably  eats  its 
way  into  government,  and  of  the  arbitrariness  and 
haughtiness  that  appear  to  be  the  prerogatives  of 
royalty.  Bad  as  is  the  oppression  of  the  poor  and 
the  perversion  of  justice,  what  is  still  worse  is  the 

IS6 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

imposslbilility  of  getting  at  those  who  are  really 
responsible  for  the  distressing  conditions  in  the 
state.  Koheleth  has  no  confidence  in  reform 
movements,  arising  through  indignation  at  the 
discovery  of  corruption,  but  which  fail  to  remove 
the  cause.  Do  not  be  amazed,  he  says,  at  finding 
out  how  rotten  things  are,  for  there  is  always  some 
one  "higher  up"  who  is  responsible  and  whom  you 
cannot  reach  (v.  7).  In  guarded  language,  the  text 
of  which  may  have  been  interfered  with  in  order 
to  remove  the  suspicion  of  lese-majesU,  he  suggests 
that  if  we  were  to  follow  this  attempt  to  get  the 
one  "higher  up,"  the  quest  would  end  with  the 
one  at  the  "top" — that  is,  with  the  king. 

In  keeping  with  this  gloomy  picture  of  the 
hopelessness  of  bringing  about  improvements  in 
government  and  in  social  conditions  that  follow 
upon  a  government  honey-combed  with  corruption, 
Koheleth  ironically  advises  one  not  to  rush  into  the 
royal  presence  for  the  purpose  of  making  complaint 
(viii,  3).  You  will  get  no  sympathy.  The  king  will 
do  whatever  he  pleases,  and  all  that  you  will  get 
for  your  pains  is  a  dismissal  from  the  office  that 
you  may  hold.  It  is  the  part  of  discretion  to  obey 
the  king's  command.  Who  can  say  to  a  king, 
"What  art  thou  doing. f*"  (viii.  4.)  Discretion  is  the 
better  part  of  valor.  If  the  king  is  angry,  try  to 
pacify  him.  Do  not  resign  your  position,  for  that 
will  only  be  looked  upon  as  an  acknowledgment 
of  guilt  (x.  4).  Be  careful  in  what  you  say  and 
do.     Koheleth  ironically  suggests  that  even  your 

157 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

thoughts  in  the  solitude  of  your  bed-chamber  may 
get  you  into  trouble.    The  walls  have  ears. 

"Do  not,  even  on  thy  couch,  defame  a  king. 
Nor  in  thy  bed-chamber  denounce  a  rich  man, 
For  a  bird  of  heaven  will  carry  the  sound. 
And  a  winged  creature  will  reveal  the  utterance."  (x.  20.) 

Not  an  agreeable  picture,  forsooth,  of  espion- 
age in  ancient  Palestine! 

Kingship  rested  throughout  antiquity  on  the 
basis  of  divine  right. ^^  'YYiq  king  owed  his  position 
to  the  belief  that  he  was  supposed  to  be  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  national  deity  on  earth — his 
terrestrial  vicar.  He  was  the  visible  lieutenant 
of  the  invisible  general.  Hence  the  logical  theory  of 
the  descent  of  kings  from  the  gods  so  common  in 
antiquity  and  of  which  we  have  some  survivals  in 
our  days.  William  H.  still  believed  in  it,  with 
consequences  disastrous  to  his  people  and  to  him- 
self. The  king  is  the  earliest  type  of  "the  son 
of  God."  Among  the  Egyptians  and  Assyrians  the 
kings  are  actually  designated  as  the  sons  of  some 
god  or  the  other.  He  is  "named"  by  the  god  to 
occupy  the  throne;  and  the  idea  of  direct  sonship 
shades  over  almost  imperceptibly  into  the  doc- 
trine of  the  incarnation  of  the  God  in  an  earthly 
representative.  The  glamor  of  royalty  arises  from 
this  view  of  the  position  of  the  king.  Koheleth, 
realizing  the  absurdity  of  a  theory  which  would 
invest  an  ordinary  human  being  with  superhuman 
prerogatives,  brushes  it  away  by  a  single  sweep. 

•^  See  Sir  Jas.  G.  Frazer,  "  Early  History  of  Kingship,"  p.  32,  et  seq. 
158 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

A  poor  and  wise  child  is  superior  to  a  king  who  is 
old  and  foolish  (iv.  13).  How  can  one  believe  in  a 
hereditary  kingdom  of  divine  origin,  when  one 
sees  that  through  a  rebellion  or  conspiracy  a  king 
may  be  driven  from  his  throne,  and  a  person  poor 
and  of  humble  birth  may  pass  on  to  the  royal 
throne  (iv.  14).  But  the  glory  of  the  new  king  is 
also  destined  to  pass  away.  Be  he  received  with 
ever  so  great  an  enthusiasm  by  virtue  of  his  youth 
and  of  his  success,  he  too  will  grow  old  and  the 
hopes  centered  in  him  will  fade  away.  The  rejoicing 
at  the  change  will  cease,  when  it  is  recognized  that 
things  follow  in  the  same  groove.  "Surely  this  is 
vanity  and  chasing  after  wind"  (iv.  15-16).  Royal 
splendor  is  as  fleeting  as  everything  else  in  this 
world.  Moreover,  what  is  this  vaunted  power  of 
the  king.?  Koheleth  has  just  told  us  that  the  king 
does  what  he  pleases,  but  even  the  king  has  no 
power  over  the  wind  or  over  death;  and  if  God 
has  so  decreed,  he  as  little  as  anyone  else  can  escape 
his  fate  in  war  (viii.  8). 

Koheleth's  reflections  on  the  corruption  of 
government  and  on  the  arbitrariness  of  rulers 
clearly  mirror  conditions  which  he  saw  about  him. 
It  is  not  necessary,  therefore,  to  assume  outside 
influences  to  account  for  this  attitude  towards 
government,  any  more  than  for  his  views  on  the 
futility  of  the  temple  cult.  He  is  an  observer 
of  human  affairs  and  draws  his  conclusions  from 
what  he  has  experienced.  He  is  not  a  closet  phil- 
osopher  who   immerses   himself   in   the   study  of 

159 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

systems  of  philosophy  in  order  to  evolve  a  system 
of  his  own. 

Similarly,  when  he  enlarges  upon  the  strange 
distortions  in  the  world,  to  further  illustrate  the 
vanity  of  things,  he  again  draws  upon  his  expe- 
rience and  does  not  speak  as  the  adherent  of  any 
particular  system  of  the  philosophy  of  life.  He  has 
seen  the  wicked  triumphant  in  this  world,  and  their 
glory  extending  even  beyond  the  grave.  They  are 
accorded  the  distinction  of  large  funerals.  The 
people  coming  back  from  the  cemetery  praise 
them  in  the  very  city  in  which  the  wicked  dead 
carried  on  the  mischief  that  they  wrought  (viii.  lo). 
As  an  instance  of  the  ingratitude  of  the  world,  he 
tells  the  story  of  a  wise  man  but  poor  who  by  his 
wisdom  saved  a  city  from  being  taken  by  a  pow- 
erful king  who  had  besieged  it.  What  happened  to 
the  wise  man?  His  great  achievement  for  which 
no  doubt  he  was  commended  at  the  time  was  for- 
gotten (ix.  14-15).  The  incident  clearly  rests  upon 
an  actual  occurrence;  and  it  is  characteristic  of 
Koheleth's  point  of  view  that  he  concludes  from 
the  occurrence  that,  despite  the  neglect  to  which 
the  wise  man  was  exposed,  wisdom  is  better  than 
mere  strength  (ix.  16).  This  is  another  proof  that 
Koheleth's  pessimism  is  only  skin  deep  or  he  would 
have  asked.  What  is  the  use  of  being  wise?  His 
pessimism  neither  aifects  his  humor  nor  his  sound 
sense.  All  that  he  asks  of  us  is  to  have  the  courage 
to  face  the  facts.  Do  not  expect  too  much  of  the 
world,  but  do  not  for  that  reason  give  yourself  up 

160 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

to  despair.  Above  all  do  not  imagine  as  you  grow 
old  that  things  were  better  in  former  days.  Kohe- 
leth  has  no  use  for  the  laudatores  temporis  acti, 
who  are  constantly  decrying  the  present  and  ideal- 
izing the  past.  The  man  who  suggests  that  "the 
former  days  were  better  than  these"  (vii.  lo)  is 
not  betraying  superior  wisdom.  He  is  merely 
suffering  from  mental  arteriosclerosis.  The  pro- 
cesses of  his  mind  have  grown  sluggish  with  age, 
as  the  blood  courses  less  freely  through  the  veins, 
and  he  is  unable  to  keep  pace  with  the  more  rapidly 
moving  age.  Koheleth  hits  hard  at  the  conserva- 
tism of  advancing  years,  which  he  thus  mercilessly 
analyzes  as  not  due  to  increasing  wisdom  but  to 
increasing  age,  heralding  the  approach  of  the  time 
when,  as  he  says  in  the  last  chapter,  one  loses  the 
zest  for  life,  "the  evil  days  of  which  thou  shalt 
say,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  them"  (xii.  i). 

Nor  need  we  assume  outside  influence  to 
account  finally  for  Koheleth's  mistrust  of  women. 
The  pleasures  of  youth  and  manhood  are  largely 
taken  up  with  sensual  delights  in  which  fem- 
inine charms  naturally  play  a  large  part.  As  a 
frank  observer,  Koheleth  declines  to  take  a  prudish 
view  of  the  "eternal  feminine"  that  lures  us  on. 
But  as  all  pleasures  pall  in  time,  so  a  time  comes 
when  the  attractions  of  woman  no  longer  arouse 
the  senses,  and  when  this  moment  comes  one  dis- 
covers that  of  all  things  that  are  vain  and  empty 
woman  takes  the  lead.  The  main  attraction  of 
woman  according  to  Koheleth  lies  in  her  charm, 

II  i6i 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

not  in  her  character.  When  that  charm  goes  or 
when  we  are  no  longer  sensitive  to  it,  the  illu- 
sion is  "more  bitter  than  death."  (vii.  26.) 
"Her  mind  is  all  snares  and  nets,  her  hands  are 
fetters"  is  merely  the  Oriental  way  of  phrasing 
"the  lure  of  the  feminine,"  with  a  touch  of  bitter- 
ness that  suggests  an  outburst  due  to  personal 
experience.  Renan^^  was  probably  not  the  first  to 
suspect  that  Koheleth  was  a  bachelor,  but  the  very 
vehemence  of  his  indictment  that  he  has  failed  to 
find  a  decent  woman  among  a  thousand  (vii.  28) 
points  to  his  having  been  not  altogether  insensible 
to  female  charms.  The  large  number  need  not  be 
taken  literally,  and  one  feels  that  Koheleth  is  bent 
upon  having  his  little  joke — now  grown  somewhat 
stale  by  incessant  repetition  for  over  two  thou- 
sand years — at  the  expense  of  woman.  Koheleth 
could  be  certain  also  of  finding  an  appreciative 
audience  for  his  joke,  for  in  the  ancient  as  in  the 
modern  Orient  woman  plays  a  prominent  part  in 
the  life  of  man,  though  more  as  his  tool  than  as 
his  partner. 

The  Book  of  Proverbs  reveals  woman  much 
in  the  same  light  as  she  appears  in  Koheleth.  We 
have,  to  be  sure,  the  eloquent  and  beautiful  praise 
of  the  virtuous  housewife  in  the  last  chapter  of 
Proverbs,  but  one  suspects  that  this  late  appendix  ^^ 

«3  Introduction  to  "L'Ecclfisiaste,"  p.  89. 

**  Prov.  xxxi.  10-31  without  any  connection  with  what  precedes  and 
not  in  the  crisp  epigrammatic  style  of  the  bulk  of  the  collection.  The  first 
letters  of  the  22  verses  follow  the  order  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet— another 
indication  of  its  late  date  and  of  its  rather  artificial  composition. 

162 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

was  added  by  some  pious  writer  to  present  a 
counter-picture  to  the  portrayal  of  the  charmer 
and  ensnarer  in  chapters  v,  vi,  vii,  and  elsewhere.^^ 

"Can  a  man  take  fire  in  his  bosom  and  his  clothes 

not  be  burned, 
Or  can  he  walk  upon  hot  coals  and  his  feet  not  be 

scorched?"     (vi.  27-28.) 

Though  the  metaphor  is  applied  to  the  bad  woman 
yet  the  prominence  given  in  Proverbs  to  the 
warnings  against  her  is  an  indication  of  the  general 
attitude  towards  woman  as  the  tempter.  The 
view  is  in  accord  with  the  picture  drawn  of  the 
first  woman  in  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis,  and 
which  finds  an  echo  in  the  sayings  of  Ben  Sira 
(xxv.  24). 

"From  a  woman  was  the  beginning  of  sin,  and 
because  of  her  we  all  die." 

Cherchez  la  femme,  we  must  bear  in  mind,  is  ortho- 
dox Biblical  doctrine,  and  it  was  no  small  matter 
to  trace  to  the  female  allurement  the  hard  lot  of 
man  on  earth  to  work  for  his  food  instead  of  find- 
ing it  hanging  on  trees  in  a  park.  The  wives  of  the 
patriarchs  are  portrayed  with  serious  blemishes. 
Sarah  lies  and  is  severely  rebuked  by  her  husband.^* 
She  is  also  envious  and  heartless.^''  Rebecca  de- 
deceives  her  husband^^  and  Rachel  is  jealous. ^^ 
In  the  historical  annals  women  are  rarely  held  up 

"*  Prov.  xxiii.  26-28.  Three  times  the  saying  is  repeated  (xxi.  9  and  19; 
xxv.  24)  that  living  in  a  garret  (or  on  a  desert  island)  is  better  than  life 
with  a  contentious  woman.  See  also  Proverbs  xxvii.  15-16  and  xxx.  23. 

'*  Genesis  iviii.  15. 

*'  Witness  her  treatment  of  Hagar  and  Ishmael  (Gen.  xvi.  6  and 
xxi.  8  et  seq.    ^*  Genesis  xxvii.  6-17.  °*  Genesis  xxx.  i. 

163 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

as  models.  David  and  Solomon  are  led  astray  by 
women,  and  the  queens  of  the  two  kingdoms  are 
greater  sinners  than  the  kings.  The  bad  woman 
must  have  become  a  common  figure  to  be  intro- 
duced by  the  prophets  so  frequently  as  the  meta- 
phor to  illustrate  Israel's  falling  away  from  loyalty 
to  Yahweh.  Koheleth,  therefore,  reflects  a  com- 
mon Oriental  view  in  not  having  a  very  exalted 
opinion  of  woman.  Had  he  come  strongly  under 
Greek  influence.  Instead  of  merely  receiving  a 
stimulus  to  independent  thought  from  contact 
with  Greek  culture,  he  might  have  given  us  a  dif- 
ferent picture,  for  Greek  literature  on  the  whole, 
with  some  notable  exceptions,  portrays  woman  as 
heroic,  faithful,  self-sacrificing  and  as  an  ennobling 
Influence.  Helen  and  Klytemnestra  are  the  ex- 
ceptions; Hecuba  and  the  heroic  women  of  Troy 

are  the  rule. 

XXIII 

"WORK  AND  PLAY" 

But  If  any  further  evidence  were  needed  for 
the  thesis  here  maintained  that  to  account  for 
Koheleth's  attitude  towards  life.  Including  his 
advice  to  seek  as  much  enjoyment  as  possible, 
we  need  not  look  for  Influences  of  Greek  thought, 
It  would  be  found  in  the  rather  inconsistent  com- 
bination of  toil  with  enjoyment  as  the  best  course 
to  follow  In  life,  though  both  are  vain  and  neither 
constitutes  a  real  aim.  That  is  not  the  Greek  way 
of  looking  at  things.  The  Greek  thinker  Is  logical. 
He  starts  from  some  fundamental  principle  and 

164 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

develops  it  to  a  consistent  conclusion  from  the 
consequences  of  which  he  does  not  shrink.  Kohe- 
leth  is  sporadic,  and,  as  illustrated  by  his  book, 
jumps  from  one  topic  to  the  other,  without  fear  of 
repeating  himself,  as  he  frequently  does,  or  of 
contradicting  himself,  of  which  he  is  occasionally 
guilty.  He  smiles  at  life  and  does  not  want  us  to 
take  anything  too  seriously,  including  himself. 
He  is  not  a  theorist  and,  therefore,  he  realizes  that 
although  enjoyment  alone  makes  life  tolerable, 
activity  of  some  kind  is  needed  in  order  to  keep  the 
appetite  for  enjoyment  whetted.  Without  toil, 
one  would  tire  of  enjoyment  more  quickly.  His 
advice  "to  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry"  has,  therefore, 
no  close  affiliation  with  the  doctrine  of  Epicurus, 
whose  hedonism,  besides  being  a  logical  outcome 
of  his  thought,  is  of  a  much  more  sober  character, 
any  more  than  Koheleth's  view  of  things  being 
preordained  by  God  leads  him  to  more  than  a 
superficial  approach  to  the  doctrines  of  Stoicism. 
Koheleth  looks  upon  enjoyment  as  the  fruit 
of  labor  (iii.  22).  He  regards  it  as  a  misfortune  to 
amass  wealth  and  to  acquire  fame  without  the  ca- 
pacity to  enjoy.  Long  life  and  a  large  family  are 
blessings  of  God,  according  to  the  Oriental  point  of 
view,  but  they  are  empty  forms  without  enjoyment. 
The  man  who  has  not  enjoyed  his  life  had  better  not 
have  been  born  (vi.  3-5).  The  untimely  birth  is 
better  off  since  it  has  not  seen  life  and,  therefore, 
has  not  missed  the  chance  for  enjoyment.  To 
lose  this  chance  is  the  greatest  of  all  evils.  One  loses 

i6s 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

this  chance  in  various  ways,  by  being  too  ambitious 
for  worldly  success,  by  being  too  anxious  to  heap  up 
silver,  but  also,  as  we  shall  see,  by  being  over- 
conscientious.  Ambition,  Koheleth  has  already 
told  us,^""  is  merely  the  endeavor  to  outstrip  one's 
neighbor.  That  is  foolish.  Work  so  that  you  may 
enjoy  your  leisure —  is  the  sum  and  substance  of 
Koheleth's  philosophy.  Success  beyond  this  is  a 
will-o'-the-wisp.  It  eludes  you — even  at  the  mo- 
ment when  you  have  grasped  it.  For  look  again  at 
things  as  they  are.  "The  race  is  not  to  the  swift, 
nor  the  battle  to  the  strong"  (ix.  ii).  There  is 
perhaps  an  autobiographical  touch  when  he  adds 
that  "wise  men  lack  an  income  and  prophets  do 
not  possess  riches."  Had  Koheleth  enjoyed  a 
competency,  he  would  probably  have  fallen  a 
victim  to  a  more  sunny  philosophy,  for  one  feels 
throughout  his  book  that  he  loved  life  for  the  pleas- 
ures that  it  brought. 

His  pessimism,  however,  did  not  penetrate 
into  his  soul  and  embitter  it.  Hence,  he  could  say 
with  gentle  irony  and  without  any  bitterness  that 
**time  and  chance"  are  the  accidental  factors  that 
condition  what  men  call  worldly  success  (ix.  ii). 
Besides,  what  an  empty  bubble  mere  success  is! 
In  a  twinkling,  man  is  caught  in  the  trap  set  by 
death,  as  fish  in  a  net  and  as  birds  in  a  snare 
(ix.  12).  As  for  amassing  wealth,  the  curse  lies 
in  the  desire  for  more,  no  matter  how  much  one 
has.   "He  who  loves  silver,  will  never  have  enough 

loo  See  above,  p.  138,  4. 

166 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

silver"  (v.  9).  The  rich  man  merely  increases  his 
troubles.  Having  more,  simply  means  that  your 
household  expenses  increase  (v.  10).  Koheleth,  just 
because  he  was  not  rich,  could  recognize  that  the 
rich  are  not  happier,  and  that  the  enjoyment  of 
the  millionaire  is  not  infrequently  limited  to  look- 
ing at  his  wealth  (v.  10),  which  some  day  others 
who  do  not  care  for  him  will  enjoy. 

For  all  that,  he  counsels  work — only  not  as  the 
aim  of  life  but  as  the  means  of  enjoyment.  If  we  are 
justified  in  assuming  that  a  portion  of  the  first  part 
of  the  eleventh  chapter^"^  formed  part  of  the  original 
book,  Koheleth  even  offers  some  shrewd  business 
advice  to  those  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  He 
urges  them  to  take  some  risks,  for  that  is  what  is 
meant  by  the  famous  phrase  (xi.  i) 

"Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  face  of  the  waters, 
for  after  many  days  thou  shalt  find  it." 

The  conventional  interpretation,  as  though  Kohe- 
leth were  inculcating  charity  with  an  assurance 
that  one  will  get  one's  reward,  is  merely  another 
illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  the  entire 
spirit  of  the  book  was  altered  by  the  attempt  to 
direct  its  thought  into  an  orthodox  channel.  Kohe- 
leth is  thinking  of  business  ventures  in  sending 
out  one's  goods  on  ships,  and  in  world-wise  fashion 
he  adds  the  caution  not  to  trust  all  of  your  goods 
in  one  ship. 

"Divide  it  up  into  seven  or  eight  portions, 
for  thou  knowest  not  what  will  happen  on  earth"  (xi.  2). 
^"  Namely,  verses  i,  2,  5  and  6  as  indicated  in  the  translation. 
167 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Do  not  put  all  of  your  investments  into  one 
stock,  he  would  tell  us  to-day,  but  divide  them  up 
into  seven  or  eight  companies.  Moreover,  do  not 
try  to  forecast  all  possibilities,  but  work  steadily. 
No  one  can  tell  what  part  of  his  activity  will  be 
successful,  any  more  than  one  can  forecast  the  di- 
rection of  the  wind.   God  alone  knows.  Therefore, 

"In  the  morning  sow  thy  seed 
And  till  evening  let  not  thy  hand  rest, 
For  thou  knowest  not  which  will  succeed,  this  or  that, 
Or  whether  both  alike  shall  be  good"  (xi.  6). 

But  through  thy  toil  bear  in  mind  that  life  is 
pleasant  only  if  it  is  enjoyed, 

"Though  a  man  live  many  years,  let  him  be h appy  throughout" 
(xi.  8). 

The  happy  life  is  the  only  life  worth  living.  Only 
one  who  loves  life  could  utter  such  a  sentiment, 
only  one  who  did  not  allow  his  humor  to  be  spoiled 
by  taking  things  too  seriously  could  say  as  Kohe- 
leth  does  even  when  life  approaches  the  end, 

"Light  is  sweet,  and  it  is  pleasant  for  the  eyes  to  see  the  sun" 
(xi.  7). 

Lastly,  it  is  part  of  Koheleth's  philosophy, 
based  on  observation  of  things  as  they  are  in  this 
world,  to  utter  a  warning  against  the  possible 
sacrifice  of  one's  chance  of  enjoyment  by  going  to 
an  extreme  in  being  overconscientious.  He  is  a 
preacher  of  sanity  and  moderation.  Things  are 
not  as  they  should  be  in  this  world.  The  wicked, 
we  have  seen,^"^  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  righteous, 

102  See  above,  p.  143. 

168 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

The  righteous  often  incur  the  fate  that  should 
meet  the  wicked  (viii.  14).  The  bad  man  is  honored 
even  beyond  the  grave  (viii.  10),  but  for  all  that  if 
if  one  sets  out,  on  the  basis  of  this  observation,  to 
outdo  others  in  wickedness  in  the  hope  of  getting 
the  largest  return,  one  will  be  disappointed.  If  a 
man  is  too  wicked,  he  will  be  found  out  and  meet 
his  just  punishment.  Don't  overdo  it,  for  the  world 
is  not  quite  so  bad  as,  judging  from  topsy-turvy 
conditions,  it  may  appear  to  be.  The  man  who  is 
overwicked  overshoots  the  mark.  He  is  a  fool  who 
will  die  before  his  time  (vii.  17). 

But  what  is  the  man  to  do  who  wishes  to  be 
righteous  and  yet  sees  the  "righteous  perishing  by 
his  righteousness".?  (vii.  15.)  Our  gentle  cynic 
whispers,  "Be  not  overrighteous  nor  overwise, 
why  ruin  thyself.?"  (vii.  16.)  The  cynicism  is  undis- 
guised, but  it  is  without  any  sting.  Koheleth  does 
not  say,  "follow  the  wicked  path,  provided  you  do 
not  go  at  too  rapid  a  pace,"  but  rather  utters  the 
warning  that,  "if  you  are  too  wicked,  you  will  get 
into  trouble."  At  the  same  time,  with  a  gentle 
ironical  smile  playing  on  his  lips,  he  restrains  the 
idealist  from  acting  as  though  he  were  living  in  a 
world  in  which  his  ideals  have  been  realized.  Do  not 
forget  that  things  are  most  imperfect  in  this  world. 
Do  not  walk  with  your  head  in  the  clouds.  You  will 
come  to  grief  if  you  do.  Watch  your  step !  You  must 
accommodate   yourself  to  existing  circumstances, 

"  'Be  bold!  be  bold!'  and  everywhere,  *Be  bold'; 
'Be  not  too  bold!'" 

169 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

reads  the  wise  saying  of  old.^°'  Koheleth  might 
even  say  of  righteousness  as  Longfellow  does  of 
courage:  "Yet  better  the  excess  than  the  defect"; 
but  he  would  add,  "Do  not  allow  your  conscience, 
however,  to  carry  you  too  far  above  the  standards 
of  the  world  in  which  you  live."  The  advice  is  bad 
— let  us  not  close  our  eyes  to  that — but  it  is  not 
offered  in  a  spirit  of  bitterness.  It  comes  from  one 
who  loves  life,  despite  its  drawbacks  and  its 
disappointments,  and  who  would  spare  youth  the 
misery  that  comes  from  striking  one's  head  against 
the  stars,  with  the  result  of  tumbling  into  a  muddy 
abyss.  Do  not  lose  your  chance  of  enjoyment  of 
life  by  taking  yourself  too  seriously.  That  is  the 
extent  of  his  gentle  cynicism.  What  will  you  get 
for  your  pains  in  trying  to  reform  the  world, 
beyond  Hamlet's  bitter  self-reproach, 

"The  time  is  out  of  joint:  O  cursed  spite, 
That  ever  I  was  born  to  set  it  right!" 

"Who  is  able  to  straighten  out  what  God  has  made 
crooked?"  (vii.  13,)  Take  good  and  evil  as  they 
come.  Take  neither  too  seriously.  Koheleth 
frankly  does  not  approve  of  martyrs.  They  miss 
enjoyment,  and  what  is  life  worth  without  it.f*  Toil 
is  empty  without  pleasure  as  its  reward,  just  as 
pleasure  without  toil  leads  to  ennui.  Wisdom, 
riches,  honors,  enterprises,  royalty,  riotous  living, 
woman,  aye  even  piety — all  turn  out  to  be  vain  and 
afford  no  permanent  satisfaction.  Pleasures,  too, 
one  tires  of,  but  enjoyment  with  toil  at  least  makes 

1"*  Longfellow's  "Morituri  Salutamus." 
170 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

life  bearable.  One  may  grow  weary  even  of  this 
combination  and  eventually  find  life  itself  "vanity 
and  chasing  after  wind,"  but  not  at  all  events 
before  old  age  comes  on,  presaging  the  gradual  loss 
of  faculties  and  the  weakening  of  functions,  till  at 
last  the  inevitable  end  comes — ^the  common  fate 
to  all — "to  the  righteous  and  to  the  wicked,  to  the 
good  [and  bad],  to  the  clean  and  to  the  unclean,  to 
the  one  who  sacrifices  and  to  the  one  who  does 
not  sacrifice;  as  the  virtuous  so  the  sinner,  the  one 
who  swears  an  oath  and  the  one  who  fears  an  oath" 
(ix.  2).  This  is  the  worst  of  all  evils  "that  there 
should  be  one  fate  to  all"  (ix.  3).  but  you  will  go 
down  to  Sheol  in  a  more  resigned  frame  of  mind,  if 
you  have  tasted  enjoyment  throughout  your  life. 

XXIV 
JOY  THAT  IS  SANE 

Koheleth  must  be  recognized  as  a  cynic  but, 
it  is  now  plain,  as  a  gentle  one;  he  shows  himself  in 
this  light  by  preaching  moderation,  even  while 
urging  the  young  to  rejoice  in  their  youth,  to  be  of 
cheerful  mind  and  to  follow  their  inclinations  and  the 
sight  of  their  eyes  (xi.  9).  Enjoy  yourselves !  But 
Koheleth's  advice  to  "eat,  drink,  and  be  merry"  does 
not  mean  riotous  living.  It  does  not  mean  playing 
the  role  of  the  idler  and  spendthrift,  who  indulges 
his  passions  and  seeks  for  mere  physical  sensations 
to  stimulate  his  jaded  body.  Koheleth's  enjoy- 
ment of  life  is  that  which  comes  as  a  respite  from 
toil.    Enjoyment  without  toil  is  worse  than  toil 

171 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

without  enjoyment.  We  may  gather  this  from  the 
way  in  which  he  denounces  those  who  feast  in'the 
morning  (x.  i6).  That  is  a  sign  of  gluttony — a  waste 
of  time  thatshould  be  devoted  to  toil.  If  hewere  liv- 
ing to-day,  he  would  rail  at  those  who  play  bridge  in 
the  morning.  One  should  feast  and  play  at  the  pro- 
per time.  Enjoyment  should  be  for  recreation  "for 
strength  and  not  for  guzzling"  (x.  17).  His  picture 
of  a  land  badly  ruled  is  one  governed  by  a  mere 
puppet  with  "princes  feasting  in  the  morning," 
in  contrast  to  a  country  governed  by  a  real  king 
"with  princes  feasting  at  the  proper  time."  Kohe- 
leth  tells  us  in  more  specific  terms  what  kind  of 
enjoyment  he  has  in  mind, 

"Go,  eat  thy  bread  with  joy, 
And  drink  thy  wine  with  a  merry  heart, 
For  God  has  already  given  His  approval  to  thy  deeds. 
At  all  times  be  thy  garments  white, 
And  let  oil  not  be  lacking  for  thy  head, 
Enjoy  life  with  the  woman  of  thy  love.  "(ix.  7-9.) 

The  passage  is  particularly  interesting  because  of  a 
remarkable  parallel  to  it  that  has  been  found  in 
Babylonian  literature,  with  so  close  a  resemblance, 
indeed,  as  to  raise  the  question  whether  Koheleth 
may  not  be  quoting  from  some  earlier  work,  which 
may  in  turn  have  reverted  to  a  Babylonian  pro- 
totype. The  parallel  occurs  in  the  story  of  the 
adventures  of  a  hero  who  was  known  as  Gish^°^ 
or  Gilgamesh.  This  epic — for  such  it  is — forms  the 
most  important  literary  production  of  ancient  Baby- 
lonia. With  constant  additions,  it  passed  down  the 

i^^Gish  means  "hero." 

172 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

ages  to  Assyria,  and  we  find  echoes  of  this  epic  in  the 
Greek  tale  of  Hercules  and  in  the  legends  that  gath- 
ered around  Alexander.  Of  the  entire  story,  which 
in  its  final  form  was  told  on  twelve  tablets  of  some 
250  lines  each,  not  much  more  than  one-half  has 
up  to  the  present  been  recovered. ^°^  The  partic- 
ular tablet  in  which  the  parallel  to  the  passage 
in  Koheleth  occurs  dates  from  about  2000  B.C. 
and  is  therefore  about  1800  years  earlier  than 
Koheleth!  Gilgamesh  has  been  smitten  with  dis- 
ease as  a  punishment  for  having  rejected  the 
offer  of  the  goddess  Ishtar  to  become  her  spouse. 
This  episode  of  the  epic  embodies  a  nature  myth. 
Gilgamesh  is  in  part  a  human  figure,  but  in  part 
also  a  god,  and  more  specifically  a  personifica- 
tion of  the  sun-god,  while  Ishtar  is  the  goddess 
of  the  earth.  The  ripening  of  the  fruits  of  the  soil 
was  pictured  as  the  result  of  a  union  between 
the  sun  and  the  earth.  The  sun's  rays  penetrate 
the  earth,  which  is  the  womb  of  the  goddess,  and 
fructify  her,  but  after  some  months  the  sun 
recedes  from  the  earth,  and  the  rains  with  the 
accompanying  desolation  of  nature  set  in.  The 
sun-god  after  a  short  union  has  rejected  the  advan- 
ces of  the  earth.  This  change  of  seasons  was  pic- 
tured as  an  insult  offered  to  Ishtar  by  Gilgamesh, 
who  now  enters  upon  a  long  series  of  wanderings 
in  search  for  healing  from  his  disease.  The  sickness 
of  Gilgamesh  is  the  waning  of  the  power  of  the  sun's 

"*  See  my  analysis  and  translation  of  the  Gilgamesh  Epic  in  "The 
Sacred  Books  and  Early  Literature  of  the  East,"  volume],  pp.  187-220. 

173 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

rays  with  the  approach  of  the  wintry  season.  The 
wanderings  of  the  hero  represent  the  course  of  the 
sun  through  the  heavens  during  the  winter  months, 
seeking  for  the  renewal  of  his  strength  which  finally 
comes  with  the  spring.  In  the  tale  Gilgamesh  is 
portrayed  as  coming  to  a  maiden  Sabitu,  dwelling 
at  the  seashore.  He  inquires  of  her  how  he  can 
secure  life  which  he  feels  to  be  ebbing  away.  To 
the  "human"  Gilgamesh — who  alternates  in  the 
story  with  Gilgamesh  the  sun-god — the  maiden 
replies  as  follows: 

"Why,  O  Gish,  dost  thou  wander  about? 
The  life  that  thou  seekest,  thou  wilt  not  find. 
When  the  gods  created  men, 
Death  they  ordained  for  men, 
Life  they  kept  in  their  hands. 
Thou,  O  Gish,  fill  thy  belly! 
Day  and  night  be  joyful! 
Daily  be  glad! 
Day  and  night  make  merry! 
Let  thy  garments  be  white, 
Annoint  thy  head,  and  purify  thyself! 
With  the  children  at  thy  side. 
Enjoy  the  wife  of  thy  bosom!" 

The  parallel  is  not  limited  to  the  similarity  of  the 
advice  and  to  an  agreement  in  the  language  in 
which  it  is  offered,  but  extends  to  the  spirit  that 
dictates  it.  As  in  Koheleth  there  is  a  note  of  res- 
ignation to  be  content  with  life  in  this  world,  for 
there  is  nothing  to  be  hoped  for  in  Aralu,  as  the 
Babylonians  called  the  great  gathering  place  of  the 
dead  in  the  subterranean  hollow  which  for 
the  Hebrews  was  Sheol.    The  dead  are  conscious 

174 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

but  they  have  no  joy  in  the  nether  world.  With- 
out joy  of  what  use  is  consciousness?  Therefore, 
since  death  is  the  inevitable  fate  decreed  by 
the  gods,  get  as  much  enjoyment  out  of  life  as 
you  can  while  it  lasts.  Feasting,  white  garments — 
white  being  the  color  of  joy — care  and  adorn- 
ment of  one's  body,  happiness  with  one's  wife 
and  children — such  is  the  picture  drawn  by  a 
Babylonian  writer,  who  lived  almost  two  thousand 
years  before  Koheleth.  The  latter's  point  of  view, 
therefore,  is  one  that  could  grow  up  in  a  Semitic 
environment  at  any  time,  without  outside  influ- 
ence. The  undercurrent  of  resignation  to  the  inev- 
itable also  shows  itself  in  Koheleth.  Sleep  after 
toil  is  sweet. 

"Sweet  is  the  sleep  of  the  laborer,  whether  he  has  eaten 
little  or  much"  (v.  11) 

but  ever  the  shadow  of  the  coming  end  is  thrown 
across  man's  pathway.  This  tempers  one's  joy 
and  creates  the  mood  which  prompts  Koheleth  to 
denounce  the  emptiness  of  life. 

"The  day  of  death  is  better  than  the  day  of  birth. 
It  is  better  to  go  to  the  house  of  mourning  than  to  a 

house  of  feasting, 
For  the  former  marks  the  end  of  all  men."  (vii.  2.) 

The  pious  commentator  who  adds  "And  the  living 
will  take  it  to  mind,"  has  missed  the  point,  as  has 
the  one  who  adds,  "Dissatisfaction  is  better  than 
laughter."  Koheleth  would  reject  the  latter  sen- 
timent completely,  nor  does  he  believe  in  sorrow 
as  a  mental  discipline,  as  the  pious  commentator 

175 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

suggests  (vii.  3'').  The  "house  of  feasting"  is 
the  author's  phrase  for  riotous  living,  for  shallow- 
pleasures  as  the  sole  aim  of  one's  life.  To  recognize 
the  seriousness  of  life,  aye,  its  sad  aspects  through 
the  injustice  and  corruption  that  prevail  in  the 
world,  is  part  of  Koheleth's  gospel,  and  indeed  is 
as  essential  to  his  thought  as  is  the  aim  to  get  en- 
joyment out  of  it.  One  should  be  mindful  even  in 
one's  joy  of  what  life  means  to  those  who  have  sor- 
row and  who  are  bound  down  by  its  worries.  He 
does  not  advise  going  about  with  a  long  face,  but 
neither  does  he  approve  of  those  who  act  as  though 
life  were  all  fun.  The  empty  chatter  that  one 
hears  in  a  house  given  up  to  mirth  is  not  the  kind 
of  joy  that  Koheleth  has  in  mind,  and  therefore  he 
can  consistently  with  his  gospel  of  joy  declare, 

"The  mind  of  the  wise  is  in  a  house  of  mourning, 
but  themindof  fools  is  in  thehouseof  mirth."    (vii.  4.) 

You  can  hear  some  sound  talk  in  a  house  into  which 
death  has  entered.  A  funeral  sermon,  Koheleth 
might  have  added,  had  he  lived  in  more  modem 
times,  is  apt  to  be  better  than  an  after-dinner 
speech,  which  he  would  often  have  found  to  be 
"full  of  sound  and  fury — signifying  nothing." 

That  life  is  made  for  enjoyment,  sums  up 
Koheleth's  philosophy,  but  the  reverse  prop- 
osition that  enjoyment  is  the  aim  of  life  is  not  true. 
To  make  enjoyment  the  aim  leads  to  excesses,  to 
"feasting  in  the  morning,"  to  making  life  consist 
of  idle  chatter  and  foolish  laughter,  to  complete 
exhaustion  of  one's  senses  and — to  ennui. 

176 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

The  most  discouraging  feature  of  Koheleth's 
attitude  towards  life  is  the  constant  undercurrent  of 
the  "one  fate  to  all,"  of  the  " place  to  which  all  must 
go,"  of  the  end  that  overtakes  the  wise  as  the  fool, 
the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  Nevertheless,  if  he 
were  a  real  pessimist  down  to  the  bone  he  would 
have  struck  a  different  key  throughout  the  book. 
Even  though  he  might  have  felt  that  he  was  deceiv- 
ing himself  he  would  have  assumed  an  attitude  of 
disgust  with  life,  and  suggested  that  death  was  to 
be  regarded  as  a  release  from  the  entanglements  and 
disappointments  of  a  cruel  and  wicked  world.  To 
be  sure,  he  says  that  "the  end  is  better  than  the 
beginning"  (vii.  8),  but  we  know  from  the  whole 
tenor  of  his  thought  that  he  does  not  believe  it. 
He  is  too  honest  not  to  let  us  see  even  when  he 
rails  against  the  various  kinds  of  vanity  in  the 
world,  that  "light  is  sweet"  to  him,  that  he  loves 
life  as  such.  Though  he  has  grown  old — for  only 
an  old  man  could  have  given  the  beautiful  and 
impressive  picture  of  old  age  at  the  end  of  the  book 
— he  still  clings  to  life,  if  only  because  of  the  recol- 
lections of  the  joys  which  he  has  tasted.  He  must 
have  had  his  trials  and  disappointments.  He  is 
disillusioned  in  regard  to  the  value  of  life,  he  realizes 
that  things  cannot  be  improved,  but  he  is  also 
sensible  enough  to  see  that  the  past  was  no  better 
than  the  present  (vii.  lo).  He  knows  from  experience 
that  wisdom  cannot  help  us  to  discern  the  aim  of 
existence  nor  to  penetrate  the  mystery  of  the 
future.     He  sees  men  struggling  for  wealth   and 

12  177 


A  GENtLE  CTNIC 

fame,  setting  aside  ideals  in  the  struggle — and 
he  smiles  at  all  this  vanity.  He  knows  that  there  is 
much  injustice  and  innocent  suffering — and  again 
he  smiles  at  those  who  take  such  conditions  too 
seriously.  His  cynicism  is  gentle^ — resolving  itself 
into  the  formula,  "Work  and  Play."  Enjoy  life 
while  it  lasts,  for  it  is  pleasant  to  see  the  sun,  de- 
spite everything  that  "happens  under  the  sun." 
Koheleth  would  have  espoused  the  sentiment  with 
which  Renan — a  modern  Koheleth — closes  his 
delightful  Souvenirs  cTenfance  et  de  jeunesse  in 
thanking  the  author  of  his  being  for  the  "charm- 
ing promenade  across  reality" — to  infinity. 

XXV 

KOHELETH  AND  THE  CONVENTIONAL  BELIEFS 
OF  HIS  AGE 

After  this  outline  of  the  teachings  of  the  book, 
which  has  shown,  I  trust,  that  the  thought  as  well 
as  the  tone  of  Koheleth  is  to  be  explained  as  a  reac- 
tion against  the  conventional  view  of  a  world  ruled 
by  divine  justice  and  against  the  current  piety 
resulting  from  these  views,  it  only  remains  for  us  to 
indicate  the  conditions  under  which  such  a  book  as 
Koheleth  arose  and  to  summarize  the  impression 
that  it  must  have  made.  Apart  from  the  evidence 
of  language,'"^  it  is  clear  that  Koheleth  must  have 
been  produced  at  a  time  when  religion  had  come  to 

i**  The  Hebrew  style  of  Koheleth  is  no  longer  the  classic  one  of  the 
prophets,  but  the  later  one  that  we  find  in  the  Mishna  which,  dating  from  the 
third  century  a.d.  is  that  portion  of  the  Talmud  devoted  to  the  actual  laws 
and  to  which  the  Gemara  in  Aramaic  represents  the  commentary. 

178 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

mean  primarily  piety,  an  attitude  of  complete  faith 
in  God  as  conceived  by  the  prophets  and  made 
manifest  by  conformity  to  fixed  rites,  centering 
around  the  temple.  The  synagogue  or  layman's 
temple  had  made  its  appearance  but  had  not  yet 
replaced  the  temple.  Nor  had  the  Rabbi  as  the  lay 
religious  teacher  as  yet  come  to  the  fore  in  place  of 
the  priest.  The  priest  was  still  the  official  repre- 
sentative of  the  religion,  but  his  influence  was  on 
the  wane.  The  inconsistency  involved  in  continu- 
ing to  offer  animal  sacrifices  to  a  Power  of  universal 
scope  and  pictured  as  a  spiritualized  ethical  Force 
must  have  been  pretty  widely  recognized,  or  Kohe- 
leth  would  not  have  spoken  in  such  contemptuous 
terms  of  the  futility  of  sacrifices  and  the  absurdity 
of  attributing  any  significance  to  dreams,  which 
come  through  natural  causes.  Koheleth  is  probably 
not  in  advance  of  his  times  in  voicing  his  skepticism 
in  regard  to  sacrifices  and  to  dreams.  His  shafts 
are  rather  directed  against  the  theory  of  those  whose 
piety  rested  in  the  belief  in  a  God  whose  workings 
are  described  in  the  additions  to  the  book — a  God 
whom  one  should  fear,  who  punishes  the  sinner, 
even  though  he  may  for  a  time  escape  retribution, 
who  brings  man  to  judgment  for  all  his  acts,  even 
those  which  he  tries  to  conceal,  a  God  who  has  made 
everything  good  and  beautiful,  in  whose  hands 
are  the  righteous  and  the  wise  and  to  whom  the 
spirit  returns  when  death  overtakes  the  body. 

Koheleth  says  boldly,  let  us  look  at  this  theory 
and  see  whether  the  facts  conform  to  it.  His  main 

179 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

aim  is  to  show  that  you  cannot  account  for  things 
as  they  are  and  for  the  actual  conditions  in  the 
world  on  this  theory.  His  book  arose,  therefore,  in 
a  circle  which,  while  it  did  not  question  the  exist- 
ence of  God,  declined  to  close  its  eyes  to  the  diffi- 
culties involved  in  attempting  to  penetrate  His 
ways.  It  is  the  same  circle  from  which  the  book  of 
Job  emanated,  the  main  difference  between  Job 
and  Koheleth  being  that  Job  takes  up  a  partic- 
ular problem — the  innocent  suffering  in  the  world 
— while  Koheleth  makes  an  attack  upon  the  entire 
line  of  the  current  theology.  We  miss  the  point  of 
both  books  if  we  regard  them  as  purely  individual 
expressions.  They  voice  views  which  must  have 
been  pretty  widely  held,  or  they  would  not  have 
made  a  sufficiently  deep  impression  to  be  the  sub- 
ject of  subsequent  elaboration  and  comment. 
Koheleth  is  about  a  century  later  than  Job,  but 
both  reflect  a  period  when  independent  thought 
had  become  a  factor  in  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
day.  The  prophets  who  had  brought  about  the 
notable  advance  in  religious  thought  no  longer  had 
it  all  their  own  way.  Men  arose  who  asked  the 
question  whether  the  prophets'  view  of  life,  noble 
and  inspiring  as  it  was,  furnished  a  satisfactory 
explanation  for  the  world  as  it  actually  appears. 

The  old  opposition  to  prophetical  Judaism  on 
the  part  of  those  who  felt  the  lash  of  the  prophets' 
denunciation  of  Baal  worship  and  of  social  cor- 
ruption, had  died  out.  The  new  religious  com- 
monwealth, organized  by  pious  followers  of  Yahweh, 

1 80 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

gradually  changing  to  the  universal  Jehovah,  con- 
formed in  theory  at  least  to  the  ideals  maintained 
by  the  prophets.  The  worship  was  purged  of  objec- 
tionable features,  and  though  animal  sacrifices  as 
tribute  and  as  expiatory  offerings  continued  to 
be  the  basis  of  the  new  ritualistic  code  worked 
out  under  the  guiding  direction  of  Ezra,  a  higher 
interpretation  was  given  to  the  rite,  as  also  to  the 
other  ceremonies  of  the  religion,  growing  stead- 
ily in  the  elaboration  of  details.  The  old  abuses, 
however,  albeit  in  a  different  form,  were  beginning 
to  creep  in.  The  priests  as  a  class  were  again 
becoming  worldly.  Politics  became  hopelessly 
intertwined  with  the  religious  organization  and 
led  to  internal  quarrels  and  intrigues.  This  state 
of  affairs  was  counterbalanced  in  a  measure  by 
the  growth  of  a  personal  piety  among  the  laity 
that  found  its  expression  in  a  deepening  faith  in  a 
watchful  Providence,  extending  His  care  beyond 
the  grave,  and  in  a  punctilious  ceremonialism, 
such  as  a  strict  observance  of  the  Sabbath  and  of 
dietary  laws. 

Koheleth  reflects  clearly  the  two  directions 
towards  which  Judaism  was  drifting,  a  worldly 
ecclesiasticism  on  the  one  hand,  and  personal  piety 
of  a  rather  smug  character  on  the  other.  The  two 
parties  into  which  Judaism  split,  Sadduceeism, 
the  party  of  the  priests,  and  Phariseeism,  the 
party  of  the  pious  laity,  existed  in  embryo,  if  not 
yet  in  definite  shape.  The  circle  from  which  the 
book  of  Koheleth  emanated  represents  the  inde- 

i8i 


A  GENTLE  Cl^NIC 

pendent  line  of  thought,  opposed  to  both  directions 
in  a  measure,  though  not  absolutely  so.   Unwilling 
to  be  bound  by  either  tradition  or  convention,  the 
circle  raised  the  fundamental  inquiry  whether  one 
can  see  the  workings  in  the  world  of  a  God  such 
as  was  set  up  by  the  party  of  tradition  as  well  as  by  - 
that  of  pietistic  convention.  The  spirit  of  Koheleth 
is  that  of  Goethe's  Geist  der  stets  verneint.  This  spirit 
of  denial,  naturally,  aroused  the  opposition  of  the 
priests    and   of   the   pious   laity  alike.     There    is' 
indeed  something  of  the  mephistophelian  quality  in 
Koheleth.    He  shares  with  Mephistopheles  a  sense 
of  humor,  though  not  of  the  same  sardonic  caliber. 
Koheleth  is  too  sympathetic  with  the  sufferings  of 
mankind  through  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the 
world  to  indulge  in  mockery  at  man's  efforts  to 
rise  superior  to  his  surroundings.     He  does  not 
question  the  essential  soundness  of  human  nature 
as  a  whole,  and  he  can  appreciate  the  earnest  strug- 
gle to  seek  a  solution  for  the  strange  contradictions 
in  life.  He  manifests  his  pity  for  the  struggle,which 
he  feels,  however,  is  hopeless  because  one  cannot 
discover  any  real  aim  to  human  life.    That  is  his 
main  contention,  w^hich  leads  him  to  the  conclusion 
that  one  must  not  take  life  too  seriously.     He, 
therefore,  smiles  at  things  and  conditions  as  they 
are.    The  smile  is  at  times  benevolent,  but  more 
frequently  touched  with  a  gentle  irony.   He  smiles 
at  the  zealous  reformer  who  deludes  himself  in  the 
belief  that  he  can  improve  matters;  he  smiles  also 
at  the  one  who  laments  that  things  are  growing 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

worse.  That  is  not  so,  he  tells  us  for  our  comfort. 
The  past  only  seems  to  be  better  because  we 
idealize  it,  and  in  part  because  with  the  approach 
of  old  age  we  are  apt  to  grow  out  of  sympathy 
with  the  everchanging  present.  If  there  is  no  real 
progress,  but  merely  endless  repetition  with  vari- 
ations that  are  unessential,  there  is  also  no  retro- 
gression. Nature  has  only  one  film — a  long  and 
varied  one,  which  it  reels  off  and  then  reels  off 
again  without  cessation.  Enjoy  the  film,  he  says, 
but  don't  attempt  to  interfere  with  it — or  you  will 
spoil  the  show. 

His  doctrine  of  enjoyment  is  simple  and  at 
bottom  sound.  Don't  be  a  mere  spectator  in  the 
drama  of  life  or  you  will  soon  tire  of  it.  Act  your 
part  and  you  will  enjoy  the  play  in  which  you 
participate  by  your  toil  so  much  the  longer.  Take 
life  as  a  play,  but  be  actor  and  spectator  at  the 
same  time.  Remember  that  the  curtain  will  be 
rung  down  sometime,  and  you  will  be  left  in  dark- 
ness. Let  not  this  thought,  however,  from  which, 
to  be  sure,  you  cannot  escape,  drive  away  your 
enjoyment,  but  resign  yourself  to  the  inevitable  by 
the  comforting  assurance  that  the  one  certainty 
given  us  is  the  legitimacy  of  enjoying  our  leisure 
after  the  day's  work.  The  capacity  for  enjoyment 
is  a  gift  of  God.  God  approves  of  joy,  because  joy 
is  the  one  thing  that  makes  life  bearable. 

The  pessimistic  note  is  struck  by  Koheleth, 
but  it  is  a  soft  and  not  a  harsh  sound.  He  loves 
life  and  therefore  he  is  not  a  genuine   pessimist; 


A  GENriE  CTNIC 

and  when  he  does  occasionally  go  beyond  bounds, 
as  when  he  says  that  he  hates  life,  he  contradicts 
himself  in  the  next  breath.  The  pessimistic  mood 
is  transitory  and  is  generally  aroused  at  the  sad 
thought  that  the  life  to  which  he  is  attached  must 
come  to  a  close.  The  common  fate  that  will  over- 
take all  rings  like  a  refrain  through  the  book, 
but  it  is  significant  that  the  refrain  to  enjoy  life 
sounds  still  more  strongly.  His  fling  at  woman, 
which  might  be  used  as  an  argument  to  prove  that 
he  is  a  deep-dyed  pessimist,  is  not  to  be  taken 
too  seriously,  any  more  than  is  his  assertion  in  one 
place — and  in  one  place  only — that  he  hates  life. 
One  feels  that  he  indulges  in  intentional  exagger- 
ation when  he  declares  that  even  among  a  thousand, 
one  cannot  find  a  decent  woman.  It  sounded 
clever,  and  Koheleth  is  not  the  only  humorist  who 
indulges  in  a  witty  hyperbole  to  raise  a  laugh. 

I  call  his  doctrine  of  enjoyment  sound,  because 
he  preaches  joy  for  joy's  sake.  He  has  no  sym- 
pathy with  gluttony  or  riotous  living,  or  with  a  life 
entirely  given  up  to  stimulating  the  passions  and 
sensual  tastes.  He  is  saved  from  any  extreme 
hedonism  by  his  gospel  of  work  as  the  condition  to 
genuine  enjoyment.  Hence,  when  he  advocates 
"Eat,  drink,  and  be  merry, "  he  knows  that  there  is 
little  danger  of  making  enjoyment  the  aim  of  life. 
Enjoyment  as  an  aim  is  vanity  and  indeed  the 
greatest  of  all  vanities,  for  it  must  soon  lead  to 
ennui.  He  knows  that  even  when  he  urges  the 
young  to  follow  the  inclinations  of  their  mind  and 

184 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

the  sight  of  their  eyes,  the  quest  for  enjoyment 
after  toil  will  go  no  further  than  to  eat  and  drink 
with  a  merry  heart,  to  keep  oneself  in  a  festive 
mood,  keen  for  the  enjoyment  of  one's  leisure, 
and  to  live  happily  with  one's  wife  and  family. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  in  an  estimate  of 
this  v/orldly  aspect  of  Koheleth's  philosophy  that 
it  does  not  diifer  materially  from  the  practical 
wisdom  frequently  found  in  the  book  of  Proverbs 
which  aroused  no  opposition,  either  from  the 
priests  or  from  the  pious  laity.  Poverty  is  looked 
upon  in  proverbs  as  synonymous  with  shame 
(Proverbs  xiii.  i8).  There  is  a  touch  of  cynicism 
in  the  sentiment  that 

"The  poor  is  hated  even  by  his  neighbor, 
But  the  rich  has  many  friends"  (xiv.  20). 

The  warning  against  the  anger  of  kings  sounds 
like  an  entry  in  Koheleth's  diary, 

"A  king's  wrath  is  as  a  messenger  of  death. 
A  wise  man  will  pacify  it"  (xvi.  14). 

The  sentiment  is  the  same  as  in  Ecclesiastes  (x.  4).^"' 
Koheleth  might  have  given  the  worldly  advice 
not  to  sing  one's  praises  in  the  presence  of  a  king 
(Proverbs  xxv.  6),  because  it  will  not  lead  to  one's 
advancement.  Such  sayings  as  "it  is  not  good 
to  eat  too  much  honey"  (xxv.  27),  and  "not  to 
set  one's  foot  too  often  in  one's  neighbor's  house, 
lest  he  may  tire  of  thee"  (xxv.  17),  "not  to  boast 
of  to-morrow,  for  thou  knowest  not  what  to-morrow 

'"  See  above,  p.  157. 

185 


A  GENriE  Cl^NIC 

may  bring  forth"  (xxvii.  i),  might  have  found  a 
place  among  the  "words  of  Koheleth."  No  doubt 
this  similarity  between  the  tone  of  many  of  Kohe- 
leth's  utterances  and  the  philistine  sentiments  in 
Proverbs  was  a  factor  in  leading  commentators  to 
amplify  Koheleth  by  sayings  taken  from  collections 
of  maxims.  To  an  uncritical  age,  anxious,  more- 
over, to  weaken  the  unorthodox  character  of  Kohe- 
leth's  point  of  view,  the  device  of  regarding  the  book 
merely  as  a  collection  of  sayings  to  which  others 
bearing  on  the  themes  discussed — wisdom,  the 
conduct  of  life,  the  value  of  discretion,  avoidance 
of  trouble  and  the  like — could  be  added,  would 
suggest  itself  as  one  of  the  means  to  accomplish  the 
end  in  view,  namely,  to  give  the  flavor  of  conven- 
tionalism to  a  popular  but  dangerous  book. 

XXVI 

THE  OMAR  KHAYYAM  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Where  then  shall  we  place  Koheleth  among 
the  many  philosophers  of  earlier  and  later  days 
who  have  set  forth  their  attitude  towards  life.  We 
have  seen  that  he  is  not  Mephistopheles,  though  he 
shows  something  of  the  spirit  of  that  grim  cynic. 
He  is  not  a  follower  of  Epicurus,  any  more  than  he 
is  an  adherent  of  Stoic  philosophy.  He  is  not  unlike 
Lucian  in  his  frankness  and  in  his  sense  of  humor. 
Not  quite  so  irreverent  as  Lucian,  he  lacks  the 
latter's  biting  sarcasm,  but  one  can  well  under- 
stand that  the  more  gentle  cynicism  of  Koheleth 
was  as  distasteful  to  those  who  did  not  favor  the 

i86 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

disturbance  of  the  status  quo,  as  was  the  sharper 
irony  in  Lucian's  flings  at  the  gods  as  pictured  in 
the  current  myths  in  which  the  intelligent  public 
no  longer  believed  in  the  second  century  of  our 
era  when  Lucian  wrote. 

There  are  some  striking  points  of  resemblance 
between  Koheleth  and  Hesiod  who,  reflecting  the 
spirit  of  the  depressing  age  in  which  he  must  have 
lived,  sets  forth  his  philosophy  of  life  in  his  famous 
"Works  and  Days."  Like  Koheleth,  Hesiod  sub- 
scribes to  the  doctrine  Cherchez  lafemme.  Pandora, 
the  type  of  feminine  lure,  is  created  by  Zeus  in 
punishment  for  Prometheus's  crime  of  stealing  fire 
from  heaven  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  She  brings 
a  box  as  a  fatal  gift  to  her  husband  Epimetheus, 
the  brother  of  Prometheus,  from  which,  upon  being 
opened,  all  the  ills  to  which  human  flesh  is  heir  es- 
cape. Hope  alone  remains.  Like  Koheleth,  also, 
Hesiod  sees  in  work,  in  unceasing  and  unremitting 
labor,  the  only  salvation  for  man  against  falling 
into  temptation  or  sinking  into  the  slough  of  de- 
spair in  the  hard  "iron  age"  in  which  mankind  is 
condemned  to  dwell,  the  age  in  which  Honor  and 
Justice  are  ever  threatening  to  desert  the  world 
and  leave  it  in  utter  misery.  But  Hesiod  strikes  a 
far  harsher  and  sadder  note  than  Koheleth.  To 
him  the  successive  ages  of  the  world  from  the  gol- 
den to  the  iron,  represent  a  steadily  degenerating 
process.  Not  so  Koheleth,  who  denies  that  the 
world  is  any  worse  than  it  always  was,  though  he 
also  does  not  believe  that  it  is  better,  nor  that  it 

187 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

can  be  improved.  The  thought,  moreover,  which 
we  encounter  so  frequently  in  Greek  literature, 
that  the  gods  are  jealous  of  man  and  fear  his  grow- 
ing power,  is  entirely  absent  in  Koheleth,  though 
there  is  a  suggestion  of  it  in  the  more  genuinely 
pessimistic  view  of  mankind  taken  in  the  third 
chapter  of  Genesis.  Yahweh  wishes  to  keep  man 
away  from  the  Tree  of  Knowledge  of  Good  and 
Evil  and  fears  that  he  may  also  approach  the  Tree 
of  Life  and  by  plucking  its  fruit  secure  immortality 
(Genesis  iii,  22).  Hesiod's  doctrine  of  work  approa- 
ches more  closely  in  fact  to  the  view  taken  by  the 
Yahwist  in  Genesis  that  toil  is  a  curse  imposed  on 
man  by  an  angry  deity,  than  it  does  to  Koheleth's 
view  of  toil  as  the  only  means  of  securing  an  en- 
joyment of  life  that  will  make  existence  bearable. 
To  Hesiod,  as  to  Genesis,  work  means,  primarily, 
tilling  of  the  soil.  Both  look  upon  toil  as  a  hard 
task,  but  Hesiod  tries  to  rise  superior  to  the  hard- 
ship and  to  look  upon  work  as  man's  salvation. 
Genesis  is  franker  in  recognizing  that  man's  life 
was  a  happier  one  in  the  golden  age  when  he 
could  get  his  sustenance  without  working  for  it  in 
the  sweat  of  his  brow.  Koheleth  goes  his  own  way 
and  separates  himself  from  both  Hesiod  and  Gen- 
esis, in  suggesting  that  the  purpose  of  work  is  to 
save  man  from  ennui  and  that  enjoyment,  com- 
ing as  leisure  after  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day, 
is  apt  to  last  longer  and  will  endure  at  all  events 
until  the  time  comes  when  life  itself  ceases  to  be  a 
joy  and  when,  as   described  in  the  last  chapter 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

(xil,  3-7) — perhaps  the  finest  in  the  book — strength 
fails  and  the  faculties  decline.  "The  guardians  of 
the  house" — by  which  Koheleth  means  the  hips 
— tremble;  "the  grinding  maidens" — the  teeth 
— cease;  "those  that  peer  through  the  windows" 
— by  which  the  eyes  are  meant — are  darkened; 
"the  sound  of  the  mill" — the  hearing — is  low; 
and  so  on  through  the  list  to  "the  snapping 
of  the  silver  cord" — the  spine — and  the  "shatter- 
ing of  the  golden  bowl" — the  brain — till  at  last, 

"sans  teeth,  sans  eyes,  sans  taste,  sans  everything," 

"man  goes  to  his  eternal  home  and  the  wallers 
go  about  the  street."  Work  as  long  as  you  can, 
says  Koheleth.  Sow  your  seed  in  the  morning  and 
rest  not  until  the  evening  of  life  comes.  In  this  way, 
by  enjoying  also  your  leisure,  you  will  get  as  much 
happiness  out  of  life  as  it  can  furnish.  Hesiod,  like 
Koheleth,  urges  man  to  look  upon  work  from  the 
brighter  side,  but,  more  conventional  in  his  atti- 
tude towards  prevailing  customs  and  beliefs,  he 
cautions  man  against  offending  the  gods  by  not 
performing  prescribed  rites  of  sacrifice  and  wor- 
ship. On  the  other  hand,  Hesiod  again  joins  with 
Koheleth  in  giving  practical  advice  for  the  con- 
duct of  life,  including  the  suggestion  not  to  trust 
all  one's  goods  in  one  venture  and  to  live  happily 
with  one's  wife  and  to  provide  for  offspring — 
though  not,  he  adds,  in  too  large  numbers. 

Koheleth  reminds  one  most  of  Omar  Khay- 
yam, who  represents  the  natural  reaction  against 


A  GEN'TLE  CTNIC 

a  stern  Islamic  environment,  as  Koheleth  marks  a 
reaction  against  the  unbending  ecclesiasticism  and 
conventional  piety  of  his  Jewish  surroundings. 
The  touch  of  irony  in  Omar  Khayyam's  immortal 
quatrains  is  singularly  like  that  which  we  en- 
counter in  Koheleth. 

"With  them  the  seed  of  Wisdom  did  I  sow, 
And  with  mine  own  hand  wrought  to  make  it  grow; 
And  this  was  all  the  Harvest  that  I  reap'd — 
I  came  like  Water,  and  like  Wind  I  go." 

In  their  attitude  towards  life,  both  are  free  from 
any  real  bitterness.  Their  cynicism  is  without  any 
sting,  or  if  occasionally  there  is  a  sting  it  is  gentle; 
it  pricks  a  little  but  does  not  bite.  Both  are  enam- 
ored of  life,  despite  its  sorrows  and  its  imperfections. 
To  both  life  means  joy — joy  for  joy's  sake,  with 
perhaps  this  distinction,  that  Omar  Khayyam  has 
no  fear  of  ennui  resulting  from  joy,  whereas  Kohe- 
leth advocates  as  a  preventive  the  combination  of 
toil  with  joy,  so  that  the  enjoyment  may  be  more 
lasting.  The  undertone  of  sadness,  too,  is  common 
to  both,  suggested  by  the  brevity  of  life  and  by  the 
approach  of  old  age,  devoid  of  enjoyment,  with  the 
shadow  of  death  thrown  across  one's  path. 

"Alike  for  those  who  for  To-day  prepare, 
And  those  that  after  some  To-morrow  stare, 
A  Muezzin  from  the  Tower  of  Darkness  cries: 
'Fools!  your  Reward  is  neither  Here  nor  There.'  " 

Both  writers  are  worldly  in  their  spirit  and  their 
outlook;  and  this  is  the  severest  indictment — if  it 
be  one — to  be  preferred  against  their  productions. 

190 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

Carpe  diem!  is  the  motto  of  Koheleth  and  of  Omar 
Khayyam  alike. 

"Come,  fill  the  Cup,  and  in  the  fire  of  Spring 
Your  Winter-garment  of  Repentance  fling; 
The  Bird  of  Time  has  but  a  little  way 
To  flutter — and  the  Bird  is  on  the  VVing." 

Let  us  be  frank  and  recognize  that  there  is  no 
spiritual  upHft — to  use  a  term  that  is  much  over- 
worked in  modern  days — in  Koheleth,  as  little  as 
in  the  Islamic  poet.  Koheleth  in  its  original  form 
was  not  a  religious  book,  and  had  no  place  in  a 
sacred  canon.  It  lacks  edification,  so  essential 
to  a  religious  production.  But  neither  is  it  irre- 
ligious, as  the  pious  commentators  believed  who 
tried  to  give  to  Koheleth's  utterances  an  orthodox 
turn.  Koheleth  is  not  a  scoffer,  and  he  is  certainly 
not  atheistically  inclined.  He  takes  the  existence  of 
God  for  granted.  He  has  thrown  off  the  beliefs 
common  to  all  Semites  and  indeed  to  all  peoples  in 
an  early  stage  of  culture,  who,  because  unable  to 
conceive  of  life  coming  to  a  complete  stop,  imag- 
ined a  great  gathering  place  where  the  dead  lie 
conscious  but  inactive,  but  he  has  not  advanced  to 
any  faith  in  a  real  immortality.  In  this  respect, 
however,  he  stands  on  the  same  grade  as  the  Sad- 
ducees,  who  because  of  their  conservatism  likewise 
did  not  accept  the  more  advanced  doctrine.  Kohe- 
leth draws  the  consequences  of  the  position  held  by 
him,  and,  no  longer  accepting  the  view  that  any 
consciousness  remains  to  the  dead,  boldly  says  that 
"They  know  nothing"  (ix.  4).    Death  ends  every- 

191 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

thing.  It  was  this  attitude  that  was  largely  respon- 
sible for  the  opposition  that  the  book  encountered 
in  Pharisaic  circles,  where  opposing  views  of  a  ret- 
ribution in  another  world  for  one's  acts  in  this  one 
are  reflected  in  the  additions  to  the  book.  We 
must  bear  in  mind  however,  in  defending  Koheleth 
from  the  charge  of  being  irreligious,  that  even  the 
Psalmist  declares  when  praying  for  a  prolongation 
of  life  that  the  dead  cannot  praise  God  in  Sheol 
(Psalms  vi.  6).  The  author  of  Job,  likewise,  does 
not  stress  the  belief  in  immortality,  even  though 
he  may  not  specifically  have  denied  it.  Job's  long- 
ing for  the  grave, 

"Where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling 
And  the  weary  are  at  rest"  (iii.  17), 

suggests  no  distinction  between  the  fate  of  the 
just  and  that  of  the  wicked,  as  little  as  it  leaves 
place  for  any  consciousness — certainly  not  for  any 
happiness — beyond  the  portals  of  this  world. 

It  may  be  claimed  that  the  general  attitude 
of  mind  of  Koheleth  betokens  an  irreligious  spirit. 
Perhaps — from  the  orthodox  and  pietistic  point  of 
view;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  his  advice, 
objectionable  also  from  the  standpoint  of  ethics 
— "not  to  be  overrighteous "  (vii.  i6) — may  be  in- 
stanced as  a  proof  of  his  lack  of  religious  reverence. 
Outbalancing  such  an  utterance,  however,  is  his 
sympathy  with  those  who  suffer  injustice  and  with 
those  who  perish  because  of  human  ingratitude. 
Such  sympathy  is  typical  of  a  religiously  inclined 
disposition.     We  might  go  so  far  as  to  say  that 

192 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

Koheleth  is  non-religious,  but  even  this  verdict  is 
open  to  question,  seeing  that  his  faith  in  God  is 
strong  enough  to  warrant  him  in  asserting  several 
times  that  God  wants  man  to  enjoy  life  and  that 
He  has  so  ordered  His  creation  that  man  cannot 
fathom  the  mysteries  by  which  he  is  surrounded. 
His  doctrine,  furthermore,  that  everything  is  pre- 
ordained by  God,  since  it  follows  from  the  belief  in 
a  Power  who  is  omniscient  as  well  as  omnipotent, 
certainly  rests  on  a  religious  basis.  The  world  is 
not  a  blind  mechanism,  according  to  Koheleth, 
but  the  outcome  of  plan  and  design  on  the  part  of 
the  great  Artificer,  who  has  made  and  who  super- 
intends every  piece  of  the  great  machinery — only 
we  cannot  see  the  plan. 

Perhaps  it  is  fairest  to  say  in  summing  up 
Koheleth's  relationship  to  the  religious  current  of 
his  age,  that  he  is  unwilling  to  go  further  than  the 
evidence  of  his  senses  warrants.  He  will  not  shrink 
from  a  recognition  of  facts  and,  therefore,  he  ap- 
pears in  the  light  of  an  uncomfortable  interro- 
gation mark.  He  questions  everything — questions 
the  conventions  of  the  day,  questions  the  basis  of 
beliefs,  questions  the  belief  in  a  genuine  immor- 
tality in  the  new  sense,  questions  the  motives  of 
men  and  the  sincerity  of  woman,  questions  all 
aims  and  ambitions  and  at  times  he  seems  to  ques- 
tion also  the  value  of  life.  He  takes  a  certain 
pleasure  in  exposing  the  foibles  of  mankind  and 
the  hollowness  of  most  things,  and  in  so  far  he 
is  cynical,  but  not  consistently  so.  If  he  were 
u  193 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

consistent,  he  would  have  revealed  himself  as  a  real 
cynic  and  a  genuine  pessimist,  with  the  sting  and 
bitterness  that  accompany  full-fledged  cynicism 
and  pessimism.  Fortunately,  he  is  not  bent  upon 
building  up  a  system  of  thought,  and,  therefore, 
he  can  afford  to  be  inconsistent.  His  bonho- 
mie never  deserts  him.  In  reading  Koheleth,  we 
should  picture  him  to  ourselves  as  an  amiable  man 
who  has  grown  old  gracefully,  who  looks  back 
upon  his  own  career  with  a  realization  of  the 
vanity  of  most  things  that  he  once  coveted.  The 
storm-and-stress  period  of  life  is  over.  He  has 
grown  mellow  and  the  evening  calm  has  set  in. 
He  may  have  his  regrets  but  he  prefers  to  smile. 
Life  appears  to  him  to  be  a  big  game  of  "chasing 
after  wind,"  and  he  does  not  hesitate  to  say  so 
and  to  try  to  prove  his  thesis  in  a  series  of  charm- 
ing and  witty  talks.  He  does  not  want  to  be  taken 
too  seriously  and  would  smile  at  the  thought  of 
being  regarded  as  the  exponent  of  any  system  of 
philosophy.  He  is  a  dilettante  in  philosophy  and  a 
free  lance  in  religion.  He  has  no  especial  interest  in 
Judaism,  except  as  the  religion  which  he  sees 
around  him.  "Work  and  Play" — may  be  taken  as 
the  motto  of  the  book.  Do  both  as  well  as  you  can, 
but  do  not  regard  either  as  the  aim  of  life.  There 
is  no  aim.  There  is  merely  life,  and  life  is  there  to 
be  enjoyed  or  it  is  entirely  wasted.  Retain  your 
sense  of  humor  so  that  you  may  not  grow  morose 
when  you  contemplate  the  ills  and  sorrows  in  the 
world.     When  you  get  into  a  particularly  pessi- 

194 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

mistic  mood — smile  at  the  world,  not  with  a  bitter 
smile,  but  with  a  suggestion  of  irony. 

Renan,  whose  own  nature  found  a  response  in 
Koheleth  and  who  was  fascinated  by  the  book  as 
everyone  must  be  who  penetrates  its  spirit,  goes  so 
far  as  to  say  that  it  is  the  only  amiable  book  written 
by  a  Jew.  That  is  hardly  correct,  for  we  have  a 
modern  analogy  to  Koheleth  (as  Renan  himself 
suggests)  in  Heine,  who  looks  upon  the  world  in 
the  same  smiling  manner.  While  thoroughly  as- 
similating the  culture  and  surroundings  of  his  age, 
Heine's  humor  and  general  type  of  mind  are  char- 
acteristically Jewish.  Heine  is  a  nineteenth-cen- 
tury Koheleth;  and  heposesses  the  same  irresistible 
charm.  His  pen,  though  trenchant,  is  never  dipped 
in  venom;  his  irony,  though  pointed,  is  tempered 
with  pathos.  Even  his  satire,  when  most  biting, 
betrays  his  amiability.  The  analogy  between  the 
two  might  be  carried  further,  for  their  skepticism 
is  much  of  the  same  order:  they  are  both  "gentle 
cynics."  We  can  imagine  Koheleth  as  he  bids 
farewell  to  the  world,  and  in  the  contemplation  of 
his  life  recalls,  perhaps,  the  utterances  in  his  book 
which  oifended  the  orthodox  and  the  pious,  mur- 
muring with  a  smile  on  his  dying  lips,  as  did  Heine, 
*'Z)zVtt  me  pardonnera — c^ est  son  metier ^ 


THE  WORDS  OF  KO RELET H 

IN  rHEIR  ORIGINAL  FORM,  STRIPPED 

OF     SUBSEQUENT    INTERPOLATIONS, 

MAXIMS  AND  COMMENTS 


Explanatory  Note: — The  translation  follows 
the  original  text,  as  restored  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  laid  down  in  the  preceding  discussion.  All 
additions,  as  well  as  comments  and  glosses,  are  relegated 
to  the  footnotes;  and  in  order  that  the  reader  may 
obtain  a  connected  survey  of  these  amplifications  to 
the  original  book  of  Koheleth,  they  have  been  grouped 
in  the  appendix  under  three  divisions:  (i)  The  addi- 
tions made  by  the  pious  commentators  with  a  view  of 
converting  Koheleth  into  a  book  acceptable  to  Jewish 
orthodoxy;  (2)  the  maxims  added  in  large  numbers  to 
give  the  book  the  character  of  a  collection  of  sayings 
for  the  guidance  of  life,  like  the  Book  of  Proverbs  and 
the  Wisdom  of  Ben  Sira  {i.e.,  Ecclesiasticus) ;  and  (3) 
miscellaneous  comments,  glosses  and  minor  changes 
introduced  into  the  text. 

The  translation,  disregarding  the  late  divisions 
into  chapters  in  our  Bibles,  has  been  divided  into  24 
sections,  each  section  covering  some  aspect  of  the  theme, 
with  the  conclusions  drawn  by  Koheleth  from  his  argu- 
ments and  observations.  A  general  heading  for  each 
section  has  been  added  on  the  margin.  For  the  sake  of 
convenience,  and  in  order  to  facilitate  a  comparison  of 
the  translation  with  the  Book  of  Koheleth  as  given  in 
our  Bibles,  the  chapter  and  verses  in  the  Bible  version, 
corresponding  to  each  section,  are  likewise  placed  on  the 
margin  and — as  a  further  guide — so  that  the  reader 
may  see  at  a  glance  the  omissions  in  my  translation, 
the  number  of  the  verse  preceding  and  that  of  the  verse 
following  an  omission  are  likewise  added  on  the  mar- 
gin. A  letter  after  a  verse  number  indicates  a  part  of 
that  verse,  thus  i"^  means  the  first  part  of  the  verse, 
i^  the  second  part,  while  i*^  is  the  third  part  in  the 
case  of  a  long  verse,  divided  into  three  obvious  parts, 
and  i*^  a  fourth  part.  In  the  case  of  brief  insertions,  I 
have  not  considered  it  necessary  to  indicate  this  on  the 
margin,  but  all  such  insertions  have  been  noted  in  the 
footnotes. 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH' 


What  gain  has  a  man  of  all  his  toil,^  5. 3-1 1 

Which  he  toils  under  the  sun?^  ^^' 

r~y  ^'  1  ,  •  Eternal  Cycle 

Generation  comes  and  generation  goes,  ^^  j^^r  ^^^ 

But  the  earth  remains  forever.  Nature,  with- 

The  sun  rises  and  the  sun  sets,  out  Goal 

And  to  his  rising  place  he  returns.''  °^   rogress. 
Around  to  the  south  and  circling  to  the  north, 
Around  and  around  goes  the  wind, 
And  on  its  circuits  the  wind  returns.^ 


^The  heading  in  our  Bibles  (i.  i)  "The  words  of  Kohe- 
leth  (son  of  David)  a  King  in  Jerusalem"  represents  a  late 
addition.  The  Hebrew  construction,  moreover,  shows  that 
the  words  "son  of  David"  have  been  superimposed  upon  the 
heading  after  the  tradition  had  been  established  which 
identified  Koheleth  with  Solomon,  "the  son  of  David."  The 
superimposed  words  are,  therefore,  in  the  nature  of  a  gloss  or 
comment.  See  further  above,  p.  66.  The  summary  (i.  2) 
that  follows  the  heading 

"  Vanity  of  vanities,  says  Koheleth,  vanity  of  vanities,  all  is  vanity" 

is  likewise  a  late  insertion  taken  over  from  the  end  of  the  book 
(xii.  8),  with  "vanity  of  vanities"  repeated,  either  for  the 
sake  of  emphasis  or  as  a  general  superscription  to  the  book. 
^The  first  nine  verses  (i.  3-1 1),  consisting  of  two  sec- 
tions (i)  verses  3-8  (poetic  in  form)  and  (2)  verses  9-1 1 
(prose)  are  in  the  nature  of  an  introduction.  This  introduc- 
tion may  be  regarded  as  a  general  summary  of  the  teachings 
of  the  book,  which  properly  opens  with  verse  12.  The  intro- 
duction was  added  after  the  book  had  been  written,  and  it 
may  be  the  work  of  someone  who  shared  the  views  of  Kohe- 
leth and  tried  his  hand  at  making  an  addition  to  the  book. 
At  the  same  time,  while  the  possibility  of  this  view,  held  by 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

All  streams  flow  into  the  sea, 

But  the  sea  is  not  full. 

To  the  place  whither  the  streams  flow, 

From  there  they  flow  back  again.® 

Everything  is  wearied, 

Beyond  human  utterance,^ 


some  scholars,  may  be  admitted,  the  tone  and  language  of  the 
introduction  are  so  completely  in  the  manner  of  Koheleth, 
that  it  seems  preferable  in  the  absence  of  any  decisive  evi- 
dence to  the  contrary,  to  include  it  as  an  integral  part  of  the 
work.  I  so  regard  it  with  all  the  less  hesitation,  because  of  the 
difficulty  of  assuming  the  existence  of  a  writer  who  could  imi- 
tate Koheleth  so  successfully  and  produce  such  a  literary  gem  as 
this  picture  of  the  perpetual  repetition  in  the  domain  of  nature. 

^The  picturesque  expression  "under  the  sun"  occurs 
no  less  than  30  times  in  the  book.  It  is,  therefore,  a  charac- 
teristic phrase  of  our  author,  who  prefers  it  to  the  more  prosaic 
and  conventional  "upon  the  earth"  (viii.  14,  16  and  xi.  2). 
By  the  side  of  "under  the  sun,"  we  also  find  three  times  the 
phrase  "under  heaven"  (i.  I3,ii.3  and  iii.i),  though  "heaven" 
(written  in  Hebrew  sh-m-m)  may  be  a  copyist's  slip  in  these 
passages  for  "sun"  (written  sh-m-sh). 

*  My  translation  of  this  line  rests  upon  a  slight  textual 
change  and  involves  also  taking  one  word  as  an  explanation 
of  a  rarer  one.  The  thought  is  that  the  sun  never  reaches 
any  goal,  though  always  appearing  to  be  moving  towards  one. 

^  It  comes  back  to  the  direction  whence  it  started.  The 
wind,  too,  has  no  goal. 

®The  view  rests  upon  the  theory,  widely  held  in  an- 
tiquity, that  there  was  an  ocean  encircling  the  earth,  upon 
which  the  earth  floated  like  a  rubber  ball.  Rivers  and  lakes 
and  springs  were  supposed  to  be  fed  by  subterranean  streams, 
connecting  with  the  great  encircling  ocean.  The  streams 
likewise  have  nogoal;  they  simply  flow  forward  and  backward. 

'This  monotony  of  regular  changes  without  any  goal 
makes  life  so  wearisome  that  speech  fails  one  in  trying  to 
describe  it. 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

Beyond  sight  and  hearing.' 

What  has  been  is  that  which  shall  be; 

And  what  has  happened  is  that  which  shall 
happen, 

So  that  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun. 

If  something  (occurs)  of  which  one  says,  *'See, 
this  is  new" — ages  before  us  it  has  already  hap- 
pened. Former  occurrences  are  not  recorded,  and 
later  occurrences  also  shall  not  be  remembered  by 
the  ages  that  are  to  come. 

II 

I,  Koheleth,  was  king  over  Israel  in  Jerusalem,  i-  i2-n-  "• 
and  I  applied  my  mind^  to  seek  and  explore^"  every-  ^^'' . 
thing   under  the  sun^*'" — a   sorry  business   which  pi^amres. 
God"  has  given  the   children  of   men   for  [their] 
affliction.^-  I  saw  all  that  happened  under  the  sun  i-  h 

^Literally;  "The  eye  is  not  satisfied  with  seeing  and 
the  ear  is  not  filled  through  hearing,"  i.e.^  no  matter  how 
much  one  sees  and  how  much  one  hears,  one  cannot  exhaust 
the  impression  of  the  utter  wearisomeness  of  the  processes 
of  nature.  Nature  herself  grows  tired  and  weary  of  this 
perpetual  movement  without  progress. 

^  The  Hebrew  word  is  "heart,"  but  the  heart  was  sup- 
posed by  the  Hebrews  (and  other  peoples  of  antiquity)  to  be 
the  seat  of  the  "  intellect."  Hence,  wherever  the  word  "heart" 
occurs  in  the  O.T.,  the  mind  is  meant. 

^""Through   wisdom,"    added    by    a    commentator   to 
conform  to  the  Solomon  of  tradition. 

^•^Text  has  "heaven,"  but  this  is  probably  a  slip  for  "sun." 

^^  Koheleth  always  uses  the  generic  name  for  the  deity — 
Elohim— never  the  specifically  Hebrew  one,  Yahweh.  He  does 
not  write  from  the  Hebrew  point  of  view.     See  above  p.  134. 

'^  The  desire  for  knowledge,  implanted  in  man,  is  a 
cause  of  trouble  and  vexation.    The  word  rendered  "busi- 

203 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

— and  behold  it  was  all  vanity  and  chasing  after 

wind.^^ 
i.  i6  Now  I  thought  to  myself,^^  I   have   become 

great  and  acquired  much  more^^  than  any  one  who 

reigned  before  me  over  Jerusalem,  and  my  mind 

was  stored  with  very  much  wisdom  and  knowledge. 
»•  17  And  so  I  set  out  to  experience  frivolity  and 

foolishness,^^  though  I  knew  that  this,  too,  was 

chasing  after  wind.^^ 

ness"  (or  we  might  say  "task"  or  "occupation")  occurs  only 
in  Ecclesiastes — and  no  less  than  eight  times.  The  point  of 
view  is  much  the  same  that  we  find  in  the  famous  third 
chapter  of  Genesis,  which  likewise  assumes  that  the  evil  in 
the  world  is  due  to  man's  desire  for  knowledge.  The  state  of 
blissful  ignorance  before  man  ate  of  the  "Tree  of  Knowledge 
of  Good  and  Evil"  was  Paradise.    See  above  p.  188. 

'^  A  very  striking  phrase,  occurring  nine  times  in  the 
book,  to  indicate  the  utter  foolishness  of  it  all.  Life  is  an 
empty  bubble.  Ambition  is  like  chasing  the  wind.  You  can 
never  catch  it,  and  if  you  did  it  would  be  of  no  use.  At  this 
point  (i.  15),  a  commentator  added  a  popular  saying: 
"  The  crooked  cannot  be  straightened, 
And  the  lacking  cannot  be  supplied." 

This  interrupts  the  context  and  introduces  an  entirely  differ- 
ent thought,  namely,  that  things  cannot  be  changed.  See 
vii.  13. 

^*  Literally:  "I  spoke  with  my  heart"  {i.e.,  my  mind). 

^^  A  commentator  adds  "wisdom,"  to  make  the  de- 
scription conform  to  the  traditional  Solomon,  but  Koheleth 
here  has  in  mind  material  possessions. 

1^  A  pious  editor,  who  thought  that  this  was  a  bit  too 
strong  and  hardly  consistent  with  the  traditional  figure  of  a 
wise  Solomon,  added  "wisdom  and  knowledge,"  though 
these  words  are  manifestly  out  of  place.  The  point  made  by 
the  author  is  that  Koheleth  after  having  acquired  "wisdom 
and  knowledge"  (in  addition  to  possessions),  and  finding  that 
this  was  "vanity  and  chasing  after  wind,"  now  determined 

204 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOEELETH 

I  said  to  myself,  come  I'll  make  a  test  of  ■'  » 
pleasure  and  of  having  a  good  time,^^  but  alas !  This 
also  turned  out  to  be  vanity.  Of  sport,  I  was  led  to 
conclude  that  it  was  madness,  and  of  joy — what  does 
it  accomplish !  I  made  up  my  mind  to  stimulate  my 
body  with  wine^^  and  to  pursue  folly,  in  order  to 
ascertain  whether  this  was  a  good  way  for  the  chil- 
dren of  men  to  spend^^*  the  days  of  their  lives. 

I  undertook  great  works.  I  acquired  me  houses ; 
I  planted  me  vineyards,  I  made  me  gardens  and 
parks. 2°  I  planted  in  them  all  kinds  of  fruit  trees, ^^ 


to  see  what  the  antithesis    of  "wisdom    and    knowledge", 
i.e.^  "frivolity  and  foolishness,"  would  lead  to. 

^^  A  glossator,  perhaps  not  the  same  as  the  one  who 
interspersed  the  book  with  proverbial  sayings  (see  above 
p.  76),  here  added  (i.  18.) 

"  For  in  much  wisdom  is  much  trouble, 
And  increase  of  Icnowledge  is  increase  of  pain." 

This  saying  (verse  18)  properly  belongs  after  verse  14. 

^*  Literally  "looking  upon  good" — a  perfect  equivalent 
to  our  colloquial  "having  a  good  time."  Koheleth  is  not 
afraid  of  using  the  expressive  slang  of  his  day. 

^^  At  this  point  a  pious  commentator,  still  concerned 
for  the  reputation  of  the  good  and  wise  king,  added  "though 
my  mind  was  acting  with  wisdom,"  i.e.,  the  king  kept  con- 
trol of  himself.  It  would  not  do  to  represent  Solomon  as  a 
wine  bibber,  led  by  his  sensual  taste  to  pass  beyond  bounds. 
He  was  merely  experimenting  and  with  a  conscious  purpose. 

"*  A  glossator  adds  "under  heaven,"  but  this  is  quite 
superfluous,  and  besides  appears  to  be  a  slip  for  "under  the 
sun."     See  note  3. 

^°  The  word  is  the  Persian  pairidaeza,  literally  an 
"enclosure,"  which  passed  over  into  Greek  as  Paradeisos. 
Outside  of  this  passage,  it  occurs  only  twice  in  the  O.T. 
(i)  Song  of  Songs  iv.  13  and  (2)  Neh.  ii.  8 — both  books 
belonging  to  the  post-Persian  period. 

205 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

I  made  me  pools  of  water  to  irrigate  the  sprouting 
forest."  I  purchased  slaves  and  hand-maidens, 
and  had  a  household  of  dependents,  besides  having 
possessions  of  cattle  and  flocks  in  large  number, 
more  than  anyone  before  me  in  Jerusalem.  I  gath- 
ered me  also  silver  and  gold,  royal  treasures  and 
provinces, ^^  I  got  me  singers  and  dancing  maidens" 
and  [all]  the  delights  of  the  children  of  men.^^ 
And  so  I  became  great,^^  in  excess  of  any  one 
who  was  before  me  in  Jerusalem.-^  I  did  not 
withhold  anything  that  my  eyes  desired,  I  did  not 
deny  myself  any  pleasure,  for  I  rejoiced  in  all  my 
toil,  and  this  was  my  portion  of  all  my  toil.  But 
when  I  looked  on  all  what  my  hands  had 
wrought  and  on  what  I  had  toiled  for — all  indeed 
seemed  vanity  and  chasing  after  wind.  Nothing 
seemed  worth  while^^  under  the  sun. 


2^  With  an  allusion  to  the  primaeval  garden  (Gen.  ii.  9) 
with  all  kinds  of  trees. 

^2  A  commentator  adds  "of  trees." 

2^  Instead  of  "provinces,"  Ehrlich  (Randglossen, 
Vol.  vii.  61)  by  a  slight  textual  change,  obtains  the  word 
"choice  treasures"  which  forms  a  suitable  parallel  to  "royal 
treasures,"  However,  the  text  as  it  stands  gives  a  satis- 
factory meaning,  in  view  of  Solomon's  extension  of  his 
kingdom. 

2*  Literally,  "male  and  female  singers." 

^*  Two  obscure  terms  are  added,  commonly  taken  as 
"many  concubines,"  but  it  seems  more  likely  that  they  were 
intended  as  variants  to  "singers  and  dancing  maidens";  and, 
not  being  understood,  they  were  incorrectly  spelled. 

-*Note  the  sarcastic  touch,  that  the  greatness  of  kings 
consists  in  having  large  possessions  and  in  surrounding 
themselves  with  luxuries,  slaves  and  courtesans. 

206 


rHE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 
III 

And  so  I  made  a  test  of  madness  and  folly, ^^  n.  12- 16 
for  what  can  any  man  do  who  comes  after  a  king,  ^^^^°^ 
beyond  what  he  has  already  done?^^    And  yet  it  ^"  ^/J  "^ 
seemed  to  me  that  perhaps  wisdom  has  an  advan-  Vain. 
tage  over  folly,  in  so  far  as  light  is  better  than 
darkness. ^^    But  then  I  realized  that  there  is  one  »!•  m** 
and  the  same  fate  for  all;  and  I  reflected  that  the 
fate  of  the  fool  will  also  overtake  me.    Why  then 
should  I  be  overwise?    So  I  concluded — this,  also, 
is  vanity.     For  of  the  wise  man,  as  of  the  fool, 
there  is  no  permanent  record,  inasmuch  as  in  the 
days  to  come  everything  is  forgotten. ^^   And  [see] 
how  the  wise  man  dies  just  as  the  fool! 

"  Our  pious  commentator  again  adds,  "However,  my 
wisdom  abided  with  me."  Solomon  must  be  represented  as 
keeping  wise  through  it  all. 

^^  Literally:  "advantage."  The  word  used  occurs  only  in 
Ecclesiastes,  though  a  favorite  one  with  our  author,  who 
introduces  it  no  less  than  nine  times.  It  seems  to  be  a  collo- 
quial expression,  equivalent  to  our  "worth  while." 

2^*  Our  pious  commentator  to  conform  to  the  Solomonic 
tradition  again  adds  "and  wisdom." 

'°  The  experiment  made  by  Koheleth  is  final,  for  surely 
no  one  can  make  a  more  complete  test  of  pleasure,  wealth 
and  riotous  living  than  a  king.  There  is  also  an  implied  sar- 
casm that  no  one  can  possibly  be  more  foolish  than  a  king. 

^*  The  commentator,  who  intersperses  appropriate 
proverbs  throughout  the  book,  adds: 

"The  wise  man  has  his  eyes  in  his  head. 
But  the  fool  walks  in  darkness."     (Verse  14*.) 

^^It  is  interesting  to  contrast  with  this  the  point  of  view  in 
Proverbs  X.  7:  "Thememory  of  the  righteous  shall  be  blessed, 
but  the  name  of  the  wicked  shall  rot."  Similarly  Psalm  cxii.6 
"The  righteous  shall  be  in  everlasting  remembrance." 

207 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 
IV 

ii.  17-25  So  I  hated  life,  for  all  that  happened  under 

Lije  is  ^-j^Q  suji  seemed  evil  to  me,  since  all  was  vanity  and 

"''''^ToiUs  chasing  after  wind.     And  I  hated  [the  thought] 

Useless—  that  I  must  leave  all  that  I  had  toiled  for  under 

Therefore  the  suu,  to  oue  who  comes  after  me.     And  who 

^''^'  ^Tt  knows  whether  he  who  will  control  all  that  I  have 

Merry!  toilcd  for  uudcr  the  sun  with  my  wisdom  will  be  a 

wise  man  or  a  fool?    Surely  this  is  vanity! 

And  I  gave  myself  up  to  despair  over  all  that 
I  had  toiled  for  under  the  sun,  inasmuch  as  a  man 
who  toils  with  wisdom,  knowledge  and  integrity^' 
must  hand  it  over  as  an  inheritance  to  one  who 
has  not  toiled  for  it — surely  this  is  vanity  and  a 
great  evil.'^ 

What  has  a  man  of  all  his  toil  and  of  his 
painstaking  efforts  under  the  sun,  since  all  his  days 
are  pains  and  his  ambition  a  vexation,  with  no  rest 
for  his  mind  even  at  night?  Surely  this  is  vanity. 
There  is  nothing  better  for  a  man  than  to  eat 
and  to  drink  and  to  enjoy  himself  for  his  toil;  and  it 
indeed  seems  to  me  that  such  is  the  will  of  God.^* 

^  Again  a  word  used  only  in  Koheleth  (occurring  three 
times),  and  which  represents  either  a  late  formation  or  a 
colloquial  expression. 

3*  Koheleth  betrays  a  very  "modern"  point  of  view  in 
thus  railing  against  the  law  of  inheritance,  which  obliges  a 
man  to  leave  his  property  to  his  children  who  have  not 
worked  for  it. 

35  Literally :  "This  is  from  the  hand  of  God,"  i.e.,  enjoy- 
ment is  sanctioned  by  the  divine  fiat.  The  capacity  to  enjoy  is 
God's  gift  to  man.  The  same  thought  is  found  in  iii.  13 ,  and  v.  19 
and  forms  an  essential  part  of  Koheleth's  philosophy.  See  p.  147. 

208 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

For  who  should  eat  and  who  should  drink,^^  apart 
from  him,"  though  this,  also,  is  vanity  and  chasing 
after  wind.^* 

V 

Everything    has    its    appointed    time,^'    and  "'■  '-'S 
there  is  a  time  [determined]  for  every  occurrence  f^^y^^""^ 
under  the  sun.''^ ^  ^  ZdlLd- 

There  is  a  time  [appointed]  to  be  born,  and  a  iii.  2 

time  to  die. 
There  is  a  time  [appointed]  for  planting,  and 
a  time  for  uprooting.^^ 

^  I  follow  the  Greek  text  in  preference  to  the  Hebrew, 
which  has  an  obscure  word,  that  may  rest  upon  a  misreading. 

"  Who  is  to  enjoy  the  products  of  the  earth  if  not  man? 
I  follow  the  Greek  translation  reading  "him,"  instead  of  the 
Hebrew  "I." 

^^  The  pious  commentator  who  aims  to  tone  down  the 
cynical  conclusion,  which  is  particularly  distasteful  to  him, 
adds  (ii.  26): 

"For  to  the  man  who  is  good  in  His  sight,  He  (i.^.,  God)  has  given 
wisdom  and  knowledge  and  enjoyment,  but  to  the  sinner  He  has 
assigned  the  task  of  gathering  and  amassing,  in  order  to  hand  it  over 
to  the  one  who  is  good  in  the  sight  of  God." 

This  is  optimism  with  a  vengeance,  and  in  complete  contrast 
to  Koheleth's  philosophy.  See  above,  p.  137,  et  seq.  It  is 
amusing  to  follow  the  mental  antics  of  some  exegetes  in  their 
endeavor  to  reconcile  the  two  points  of  view — the  one  abso- 
lutely exclusive  of  the  other. 

^^  The  word  used  occurs  only  in  late  books  of  the  O.  T. 

2^*  So  read  instead  of  "heaven."     See  note  3. 

*°  Some  elaborator  has  amused  himself — or  perhaps 
several  hands  are  to  be  assumed — by  adding  a  somewhat 
tiresome  series  of  12  further  antitheses  (verses  3-8),  in  illus- 
tration of  the  general  principle  of  a  time  being  preordained 
for  all  occurrences,  as  laid  down  by  Koheleth.  Some  of  these 
antitheses  are  appropriate,  others  are  far-fetched  and  a  few 
14  209 


A  GEN'ILE  CYNIC 

Hi-  9  What  profit,  then,  has  the  worker  of  his  toil?^^ 

I  have  observed  [every]  ambition"  which  God 

has  given  the  children  of  men  for  their  affliction.^' 

He  has  given  them  a  grasp  of  the  whole  world, ^^ 

are  banal.  Koheleth  was  too  much  of  a  literary  artist  to 
weaken  his  thought  by  an  over  supply  of  illustrations. 

(i)  A  time  to  destroy,  and  a  time  to  repair. 

(2)  A  time  to  break  down,  and  a  time  to  build  up. 

(3)  A  time  to  weep,  and  a  time  to  laugh. 

(4)  A  time  to  mourn,  and  a  time  to  dance. 

(5)  A  time  to  scatter  stones,  and  a  time  to  gather  stones. 

(6)  A  time  to  embrace,  and  a  time  to  refrain  from  embracing. 

(7)  A  time  to  seek,  and  a  time  to  give  up  as  lost. 

(8)  A  time  to  keep,  and  a  time  to  throw  away. 

(9)  A  time  to  rip,  and  a  time  to  sew, 

(10)  A  time  to  keep  silent,  and  a  time  to  speak. 

(11)  A  time  to  love,  and  a  time  to  hate. 

( 1 2)  A  time  of  war,  and  a  time  of  peace. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  3d  and  4th  of  these  antitheses  are 
practically  synonymous,  as  are  the  2nd  and  5th  and  9th,  and 
again  the  7th  and  8th.  Some  like  the  6th  and  nth  are  rather 
trivial,  or  at  all  events  entirely  too  obvious  to  be  worthy  of  a 
place  in  a  book  like  Koheleth.  The  list  impresses  one  as  an 
attempted  jeu  d* esprit,  to  see  how  many  antitheses  might  be 
suggested.  We  ought  to  be  grateful  that  the  list  was  not  fur- 
ther extended,  as  it  might  easily  have  been.  It  would  also 
appear  that  the  one  (or  those)  who  added  these  illustrations 
lost  sight  of  Koheleth's  thought  of  predetermination  and 
took  "time"  to  mean  the  proper  time,  instead  of  the  fixed  time. 

^^  Koheleth's  thought  is,  that  everything  is  preordained 
and  the  time  for  its  occurrence  fixed.  Why  then  toil  and 
worry?    Things  will  happen  anyway  at  the  appointed  time. 

^2  The  same  word  as  above,  i.  13  ("business")  of 
which  our  author  is  so  fond.  The  Greek  text  adds  "every" 
which  is  proper  at  this  point. 

*^  The  pious  commentator  interposes  a  counter-reflec- 
tion (iii.  II"),  "He  has  made  everything  beautiful  in  its 
season,"  with  an  allusion  perhaps  to  the  refrain  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  "And  God  saw  that  it  was  good." 

**  Literally:  "He  has  placed  the  [whole]  world  in  their 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOIIELE'TH 

without,  however,  the  possibility  on  the  part  of 
man  to  fathom  the  work  which  God  has  made  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end. 

I  realized,  therefore,  that  there  is  nothing 
better  for  a  man  than  to  be  happy  and  to  enjoy 
himself,^^  in  his  life,  and  that  indeed  every  man 
who  eats  and  drinks  and  has  a  good  time  in  all 
his  toil  [enjoys]  a  gift  of  God.'*®  I  [also]  realized 
that  whatever  God  does  is  forever,  to  which  one 
cannot  add  and  from  which  one  cannot  take  away.*^ 
Whatever  has  been  has  been  before,  and  what  is 
to  be  has  already  been.''^ 

mind,"  meaning  that  God  has  given  men  a  grasp  on  the  world. 
The  Greek  text  adds  "whole"  to  "world"  which  shows  that 
the  Hebrew  word  here  used,  olavi,  originally,  "forever,"  had 
acquired  the  meaning  "world,"  common  in  post-Biblical 
Hebrew, 

^^  The  text  says  "to  do  good,"  but  that  is  surely  not 
what  Koheleth  has  in  mind.  Either  the  phrase  has  also  the 
force  of  to  "get  pleasure,"  or  it  is  an  intentional  correction 
of  the  phrase  "to  look  upon  good"  which  is  the  one  that 
Koheleth  generally  uses  {e.g.,  ii.  i  and  24)  to  express  the 
idea  of  "having  a  good  time." 

**  i.e.,  It  is  God's  will — as  above  ii.  24. 

^^  God's  work  is  permanent,  just  as  He  has  made  it. 
Man  cannot  add  to  it  or  take  away  from  it.  Why,  therefore, 
be  ambitious  to  direct  affairs  into  their  proper  channel?  The 
pious  commentator  adds,  "God  has  so  made  it  {i.e.,  the 
world)  that  men  will  fear  Him." 

^^  The  same  thought  as  in  i.  9.  Then  follows  what  ap- 
pears to  be  an  addition  on  the  part  of  a  pious  commentator 
(15'')  "And  God  seeks  out  what  has  been  driven  away,"  by 
which  apparently  is  meant  that  God  looks  out  for  those  who 
are  rejected  or  persecuted,  and  that  nothing  worth  preserving 
is  lost  in  this  world — a  pious  and  conventional  thought 
hardly  in  keeping  with  Koheleth's  point  of  view. 


HI. 


16-22 


Common 
fate. 

iii.  18 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

VI 

And  furthermore,  I  saw  under  the  sun  in 
Injustice  the  place  of  justice  wickedness,  and  where  the 
and  the  rightcous  should  have  been  the  wicked  was.*' 
[And]  I  reflected  that  God  [permits  this]  in  the 
case  of  children  of  men  to  test  them  and  to  show 
that  they  are — beasts.^"  For  the  fate  of  the  chil- 
dren of  men  and  the  fate  of  the  beast  is  the  same. 
As  this  one  dies,  so  is  the  death  of  that,  and  there 
is  the  same  spirit^^  to  all.  Man  has  no  advantage 
over  the  beast,  for  all  is  vanity.  All  go  to  one  place. 
All    are   of   the    dust    and   all    return  to  dust.^^ 

*^  i.e.,  a  topsy-turvy  world,  where  things  are  just  the 
contrary  of  what  they  ought  to  be.  Our  pious  commentator, 
shocked  at  this  picture  of  perversion  in  a  world  supposed  to 
be  under  the  government  of  a  just  God,  adds,  in  imitation  of 
the  style  of  Koheleth  (verse  17),  "But  I  reflected  that  God 
will  judge  both  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  for  there  is  an 
appointedtimeforevery  occurrence  and  for  every  [fixed]  act." 
The  commentator  thus  rather  cleverly  turns  Koheleth's  view 
of  preordination  against  him.  A  supercommentator  has  added 
"fixed."  The  Greek  text  omits  the  word,  but  it  is  a  proper 
explanation  to  the  word  "time"  to  which  it  perhaps  belongs. 

^^  Koheleth  ironically  introduces  the  stock  argument 
of  the  pious  conservatives — as  in  the  book  of  Job — that  God 
allows  injustice,  in  order  to  test  the  caliber  of  men.  Oh  yes, 
says  Koheleth,  to  test  them  but  with  what  result?  To  find 
out  that  they  are — simply  beasts,  on  a  par  with  the  animal 
world.  At  the  end  of  verse  18,  there  is  a  gloss  "they  to  them" 
— probably  misplaced  and  belonging  to  verse  19,  to  explain 
that  men  are  like  beasts  in  having  the  same  fate. 

^^  Literally:  "breath,"  used  in  Hebrew  to  convey  the 
idea  of  both  life  and  the  soul. 

^2  Almost  a  literal  quotation  from  Genesis  iii.  19: 
"Dust  thou  art  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return." 

The  book  of  Koheleth  thus  assumes  the  existence  of  the  Book 
of  Genesis  in  its  final  form. 


:_  IV. 


rHE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

Who  knows  whether  the  spirit  of  the  children  of 

men  mounts  up^^  and  the  spirit  of  the  beast  goes 

down?^^  So  it  appeared  to  me  that  there  is  nothing 

better  for  man  than  to  enjoy  himself,  for  that  is  his 

portion,  for  who  can  help  him  to  see  what  shall 

be  after  him  F^^ 

VII 

And  once  more  I  considered  all  the  oppres- 
sions practised  under  the  sun,  and  Oh,  the  tears  of  oppression 
the  oppressed  without  any  one  to  console^^  them,  ^^J/'p/- 
and  the  violence  of  their  oppressors  with  no  com-  Effort. 
forter"  in  sight!    And  I  praised  those  long  since 
dead  more  than  those  still  living;  and  better  than 
both  is  the  one  who  has  not  yet  been,  inasmuch  as 
he  has  not  seen  the  evil  happenings  under  the  sun.^^ 

And  I  considered  that  all  toil  and  all  honest^^  '""■  ^ 
work   is    merely   due   to   man's    zeal    against   his 

*^  An  interesting  indication  of  the  existence  at  the  time 
of  the  composition  of  Koheleth  of  at  least  the  beginnings  of 
the  belief  which  placed  the  seat  of  the  dead  in  the  heavens,  as 
against  the  earlier  view  among  all  Semites  which  assumed  a 
large  gathering-place  for  all  the  dead — good  and  bad  alike — 
in  the  hollow  of  the  earth.  Seeabove,p.  I2getseg.  andjastrow 
"Hebrew  and  Babylonian  Traditions,"  chapter  iv. 

*^An  explanatory  gloss  adds  "to  the  earth." 

^*The  future  is  hidden  behind  a  veil,  which  no  one  can  lift. 

^In  the  sense  of  avenging  them. 

^'z.<?.,  no  avenger. 

*^A  similar  thought  is  expressed  in  the  famous  passage 
in  Job  iii.  11-17.  By  way  of  contrast,  and  voicing  the  opti- 
mism of  the  pious  believer,  the  Psalmist  (cxv.  17-18)  praises 
the  living  who  can  sing  to  Yahweh,  whereas  "the  dead  praise 
not  Yahweh"  and  are  therefore  to  be  pitied. 

^^  The  same  late  term  as  used  above,  ii.  21  ("integrity") 
to  indicate  a  sincere  and  properly  carried  out  task. 

213 


A  GENTLE  CYNIC 

neighbor — surely  this  is  vanity  and  chasing  after 
iv.  6  wind.*"*   Better  a  handful  in  quiet  than  two  hands- 
ful  in  toil  and  chasing  after  wind." 

And  I  further  considered  the  vanity  that  there 
iv.  8  is  under  the  sun.  There  is  a  single  man  without  a 
mate/2  without  a  son  or  brother,  yet  toiling  with- 
out end,  and  with  an  eye  never  satisfied  by  his 
wealth.  For  whom  then  should  I  toil  and  deprive 
myself  of  a  good  time?  Surely  this  is  vanity  and  a 
sorry  business." 

VIII 

iv.  13-16  Better  is  a  child  of  humble  birth"  and  wise 

Vanity  Qj  ^j^^n  an  old  king  who  is  a  fool  and  unable  to  take 

Youth  and  of  ^ ° 

Popularity.  "°  This  rather  cynical  reflection  that  even  honest  work 

done  by  man  is  prompted  merely  by  his  keen  desire  to  outdo 
his  neighbor,  leads  the  "maxim"  commentator  to  add  a 
popular  proverb  to  illustrate  the  superiority  of  work  over 
idleness — which  is  exactly  what  Koheleth  did  not  mean. 

"The  fool  folds  his  hands  and  consumes  his  own  flesh." 
(iv.  5.)  The  thought  is  in  accord  with  the  point  of  view  in 
Proverbs  vi.  10;  xix.  24;  xxiv.  33,  etc. — quite  conventional. 

^^  This  saying  may  have  been  added  by  some  commen- 
tator, but  it  is  so  appropriate  to  Koheleth's  thought  that  the 
point  must  not  be  pressed.  I,  therefore,  retain  it  as  part  of 
the  original  work,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  saying  (ix.  4), 

"As  a  living  dog,  one  is  better  off  tiian  a  dead  Hon" 
where  Koheleth   himself,  without  much   doubt,   quotes   a 
familiar  proverb. 

*2  Was  Koheleth  an  old  bachelor?  There  seems  to  be 
an  autobiographical  touch  here,  especially  in  the  question 
with  which  the  verse  ends. 

^'  Some  commentator  takes  up  the  point  in  a  much 
more  serious  sense  than  Koheleth  intended  and  tells  us  at 
length  (iv.  9-12) 

"Two  are  better  than  one, 

for  they  secure  a  better  return  for  their  toil. 

214 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

care  of  himself.  ^^  For  through  a  rebellion ^^  one  may 
come  to  rule,  even  though  one  is  born  poor  in  one's 
own  kingdom. 

I  saw  all  the  living"  under  the  sun  flocking 
to  the  side  of  the  child,  who^^was  to  stand  in  his*' 
place.  There  was  no  end  to  all  the  people,^"  yet 
those  that  come  after  will  not  rejoice  in  him — now 
surely  this  is  vanity  and  chasing  after  wind. 

In  case  they  fall  [i.e.,  if  they  fail  in  business],  the  one  can  lift  his  fellow 

up, 
but  if  a  single  person  falls,  there  is  none  to  lift  him  up. 
Again,  if  two  sleep  together  [the  reference  is  to  marriage]  they  keep 

warm, 
but  how  can  a  single  person  keep  warm? 
And  if  some  one  attacks,  there  are  two  to  withstand; 
and  a  triple  cord  is  not  easily  snapped," 

i.e..,  when  three  get  twisted  up  in  a  melee,  there  is  little 
danger  of  the  two  who  stick  together  being  worsted.  At 
the  worst,  such  a  struggle  ends  in  a  draw. 

"The  term  used  is  mw^^rn  which,  through  the  Arabic,  has 
passed  over  into  European  languages  {YvQncXwiesquin)  reverts 
to  the  Babylonian  mushkenu,  which  designates  a  "plebeian." 

"^  So  Ehrlich's  happy  interpretation  of  the  phrase  used. 

®®  Literally:  "house  of  rebellion"  in  the  sense  of  "con- 
spiracy". This  is  more  probable  than  "prison  house"  in  the 
ordinary  translations.    See  Barton's  commentary,  p.  121. 

'^'^  i.e..,  all  the  people. 

^*  The  text  adds  the  words  "the  second,"  which  is  a 
misplaced  gloss  and  belongs  to  verse  10  as  an  explanation  of 
"the  one,"  who  lifts  his  fallen  partner  up. 

^*  i.e.,  in  place  of  the  deposed  king. 

^°  The  text  adds  as  a  note  to  "all,"  i.e.,  "before  whom 
he  was."  The  point  is  that  those  who  once  stood  by  the  old 
king  now  rush  to  follow  the  popular  youth,  rising  from  his 
humble  station  to  the  kingdom,  but  even  this  popularity 
will  not  last.  Those  who  come  later,  when  this  young  king 
will  have  grown  old,  will  not  care  for  him.  There  is  a  refer- 
ence here  to  some  actual  occurrence,  from  which  Koheleth 
drew  his  lesson. 

2IS 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

IX 

VaSo/         Observe  thy  pilgrimages"  to  the   house  of 

Worship,  God  but  draw  nigh  to  hear,  rather  than  to  have 

erf  Sacrifice  iooX^Ti  offer  a   Sacrifice,   for  they  do  not   know 

^  ^-^  enough  to  do  any  harm. 

V.  I  Be  not  rash  with  thy  mouth,  and  be  not  led 

hastily  to  utter  a  word  before  God,  for  God  is  in 

V.  3*  heaven  and  thou  art  upon  earth.    Therefore,  let 

thy  words  be  few.  ^^  If  thou  dost  make  a  vow  to  God, 

do  not  defer  paying  it.^^   Whatever  thou  vowest, 

V.  4  pay !    It  is  better  not  to  vow,  than  to  vow  and  not 

pay.    Let  not  thy  mouth  bring  sin  upon  thee,^^  and 

do  not  say  before  God^^  that  it  was  a  slip.'^^   Why 

^^  A  reference  to  the  three  festivals  during  the  year, 
when  it  was  customary  for  those  living  outside  of  Jerusalem 
to  pay  a  visit  to  the  temple. 

'2  By  "fools,"  Koheleth  in  most  uncomplimentary 
fashion  means  the  priests.  If  you  go  to  a  place  of  worship, 
go  to  listen  to  a  sermon  and  not  to  see  the  priests  offer  an 
animal  sacrifice,  as  though  this  were  pleasing  to  God.  From 
Koheleth's  advanced  point  of  view,  animal  sacrifice  is  a 
silly  survival  and  those  who  carry  it  out  are  fools.  A  mis- 
placed gloss  (in  verse  3)  adds  "for  He  [i.e.,  God]  has  no 
pleasure  in  fools."     See  above,  p.  153,  et  seq. 

''^  Don't  make  too  many  vows,  and  be  careful  before 
you  promise  anything  in  the  house  of  worship  when  you  are 
supposed  to  be  in  God's  presence.  Verse  2  interrupts  the 
context.   It  belongs  to  verse  6.   See  below,  note  79. 

'■*  The  text  adds,  "for  He  has  no  pleasure  in  fools," 
which  is  a  misplaced  gloss,  evidently  a  comment  on  the  part 
of  one  who  sympathized  with  Koheleth's  characterization  of 
priests  as  fools  (iv.  17).    See  above,  note  72. 

'^  i.e.^  by  hastily  making  a  vow  which  you  have  no  in- 
tention to  pay. 

'^  So  the  Greek  text,  for  which  the  Hebrew  in  order  to 
avoid  the  anthropomorphism  has  "angel,"  i.e.,  a  messenger 

216 


Government, 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELErU 

arouse  God's  anger'^  and  destroy  thy  own  handi- 
work ? 

A  multitude  of  dreams  results  in  many  foolish 

words, 
for  a  dream  comes  through  too  much  business, 
and  a  fool's  voice  is  heard  in  many  words. ^' 

X 

If  thou  seest  the  oppression  of  the  poor,  and  v.  7-8 
justice    and    righteousness    in    the    country^"    de-  ^orrwp^ion  0/ 
frauded,  do  not  be  amazed  at  the  occurence,  for 

of  God.  This  substitute  is  quite  frequent  in  the  O.T.  So, 
e.g..  Genesis  xlviii.  16,  Jacob  is  made  to  speak  of  "the  angel 
who  redeemed  me,"  meaning  Yahweh.  In  accordance  with 
this  tendency  to  avoid  the  earlier  assumption  that  Yahweh 
himself  appears  and  speaks,  later  documents — like  the  Elo- 
hist  in  the  Hexateuch — speak  of  the  "angel  of  Yahweh" 
appearing  in  a  dream  or  in  a  theophany.  So  Genesis  xxviii.  12 
the  angels  of  God  appear  to  Jacob  in  a  dream,  whereas  in  an 
earlier  document,  which  has  been  dovetailed  into  a  later 
one,  Yahweh  himself  appears  and  speaks  (verse  13). 

''"'  The  word  used  is  the  technical  one  in  the  ritual  laws 
of  the  Pentateuch  for  an  "unintentional  error."  It  is  peculiar 
to  the  late  Priestly  Code  and  points,  therefore,  to  the  exist- 
ence of  this  Code  at  the  time  that  Koheleth  wrote.  This  of 
itself  would  bring  the  composition  of  our  book  to  a  date  later 
than  the  close  of  the  fifth  century. 

^^  Literally:  "Why  should  God  be  angry  at  thy  voice," 
i.e.,  at  thee? 

^^  I  combine  verse  6  with  verse  2.  The  fool's  voice  is 
that  of  the  one  who  pretends  to  interpret  a  dream,  which  is 
merely  due  to  having  too  much  on  one's  mind.  Koheleth 
might  have  added  "or  too  much  in  one's  stomach."  At  the 
close  of  verse  6  the  pious  commentator  adds  "but  fear  God." 

^°  The  word  used  {medina=Y>rovmce)  is  a  late  one  and 
stamps  Palestine  as  a  "province"  of  the  Persian  Empire. 

217 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

there  is  some  "guardian"*^  higher  up  and  still 
higher  ones  above  this  one;  and  overtopping  them 
all  is  the  King.^^ 

XI 

V.  9-16         He  who  loves  silver  will  never  have  enough  silver, 
faniiy  of         ^j^j  j^^  ^|^q  loves   a   big  pile,  will   have  no 

Wealth.  r      r     r  •    1 

profit  lot  It  I — 
surely  this  is  vanity. 
With  the  increase  of  goods,  its  participants 

increase; 
and  what  advantage  is  it  to  its  owner  except 

to  look  at  it  ? 
Sweet  is  the  sleep  of  the  laborer,  whether  he 

has  eaten  little  or  much, 
but  the  satiety  of  the  rich  does  not  permit 

him  to  sleep. ^' 
A  sore  evil  that  I  have  seen  under  the  sun,  is 
V.  13  riches  hoarded  by  the  owner,^*  and  when  that  for- 

^^  Koheleth  uses  the  word  "guardian,"  i.e.,  of  the  law, 
ironically.  His  point  is  that  if  there  is  graft  in  the  land,  there 
is  always  some  one  "higher  up"  who  is  responsible  and  who 
cannot  be  reached. 

^-  This  translation  of  verse  8  is  a  mere  venture.  The 
text  as  it  stands  cannot  be  correct.  The  two  words  at  the 
close  "attached  to  the  field"  give  no  sense  whatsoever,  and 
may  represent  a  misplaced  gloss  to  "laborer"  In  v.  ii  to 
indicate  that  the  "laborer"  meant  is  a  farmer.  The  previous 
verse  suggests  some  such  meaning  as  that  responsibility  for 
corruption  in  the  final  analysis  rests  with  the  king  who 
stands  above  all.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  text  has  been 
intentionally  manipulated  for  fear  of  lese-majeste. 

^  These  two  lines  form  a  popular  saying,  but  probably 
introduced  by  Koheleth  himself. 

^*  A  gloss  adds  "to  his  hurt." 

2l8 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

tune  is  lost  through  a  bad  venture,  the  son  begotten 
by  him  has  nothing. 

He  cannot  carry  anything  that  he  has  acquired  v.  14'' 
by  his  toil  away  with  him.^^  Surely  this  is  a  sore 
evil,  that  just  as  he  came,  so  he  goes.  Therefore, 
what  profit  is  it  to  him  that  he  toils  for  the  wind 
and  that  he  spends  all  his  days  in  saving^*'  and  in 
constant  worry  and  sickness  and  distress? 

XII 

Therefore,  it  seems  to  me  the  thing  that  is  v.  17-19 
good  and  proper  is  to  eat,  drink,  and  to  have  a  ^«'; 
good  time  with  all  one's  toil  under  the  sun  during  ^''"^^' 
the  span  of  life  which  God  has  allotted  to  one,  for  Merry. 
that  is  his  portion.    Every  man  to  whom  God  has 
given  riches  and  possessions  and  who  has  [also] 
the  power  to  enjoy  it  and  to  take  his  portion  and  to 
be  happy  in  his  toil — this  is  a  gift  of  God.^^    For 
he  should  remember  that  life   is   short  and  that 
God  approves  of  joy.^^ 

85  Qyj.  "maxim"  commentator  adds  (at  the  beginning 
of  verse  14)  as  appropriate  at  this  point: 

"As  he  came  naked  from  his  mother's  womb,  so  he  returns  as  he  came." 

The  saying  is  identical  with  Job  i.  20 — there  put  into 
the  mouth  of  Job.  It  is,  in  all  probability,  intended  as  a 
quotation,  though  placed  in  the  third  person  as  against  the 
first  person  in  Job. 

*^  So  by  a  slight  change  in  the  text. 

*^  As  above  ii.  24. 

^*  Literally:  "God  answers  the  joy  of  his  heart" — 
evidently  meaning  that  God  puts  his  stamp  of  approval  on 
man's  enjoyment  of  his  life.  This  use  of  "answer"  in  the 
sense  of  "approve"  is  also  found  in  Arabic  and  Assyrian. 

219 


A  GENl'LE  CTNIC 
XIII 

^;  1-9         There  is  an  evil  which  I  have  observed  under 
^«'^y  oj  ^jjg  g^j^  ^j^j  '^  bears  heavily  on  mankind — a  man 

Enjoyment,  to  whom  (jrod  has  given  riches  and  possessions 
and  superfluity®^  with  nothing  lacking  of  anything 
that  he  might  wish  for,  but  to  whom  God  has  not 
given  the  power  to  enjoy  it,  so  that  a  stranger^" 
enjoys  it — this  surely  is  vanity  and  a  sore  evil. 

If  a  man  beget  a  hundred  children ^^  and  live 
many  years,  be  his  life  ever  so  long,  and  he  does 
not  get  his  fill  of  joy  out  of  it^^ — I  say  that  the 
abortion  is  happier  than  he.  Even  though  it  [the 
untimely  birth]  comes  into  vanity,  moves  in  dark- 
ness, and  with  darkness  its  name  is  covered  and  it 
has  never  seen  the  sun  nor  has  known  [anything] — 
V'-  6  yet  this  is  preferable  to  the  other.^^  And  though  a 
man  live  a  thousand  years  twice  told,  and  has  not 
had  a  good  time — do  not  all  go  to  one  place  ?^^ 

^^  Literally  "honor,"  but  when  used  with  "riches"  it 
has  the  force  of  luxury. 

^"  i.e.f  some  one  for  whom  he  does  not  care.  Is 
Koheleth  again  giving  us  an  autobiographical  touch  of  him- 
self as  a  bachelor  who  must  leave  his  fortune  to  strangers? 

^^  Grandchildren  and  great-grandchildren  would  also 
be  counted  as  a  man's  offspring, 

^2  A  glossater  has  added  "And  he  has  not  even  a  burial," 
i.e.,  is  even  neglected  when  he  dies.  The  common  view  among 
Semites  was  that  the  unburied  corpse  is  unhappy  in  the 
world  of  shadows. 

^^  i.e..,  the  fate  of  the  untimely  birth  is  better  than  a 
long  life  without  joy,  even  if  one  has  children  to  whom  to 
leave  one's  fortune. 

^*  According  to  Koheleth,  there  is  no  heaven  for  the 
good  man  who  has  lived  his  life  in  abstinence  and  whose 


rHE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

What  advantage  has  a  wise  man^^  over  a  fool,  vi  g 
or  the  poor  man  who  by  his  knowledge  sets  an  ex- 
ample to  the  living  ?^^    Better  is  enjoyment"  than 
longing — though  this  also   is  vanity  and   chasing 

after  wind. 

XIV 


Whatever  is  has  long  since  been  determined^^  vi.  lo-ii 
and  what  man  is  has  been  fixed.®^   He  cannot  con-  Vanity 
tend  with  what  is  stronger  than  himself.^°°  Since  ^'"^^ 
many  possessions^"^  merely  increase  vanity,  what  a^amff /w 

energy  was  entirely  taken  up  with  toil  without  cessation. 
His  fate  is  no  better  than  that  of  the  man  who  lived  solely 
for  enjoyment.  A  "maxim"  commentator  has  added  a 
popular  saying  at  this  point  as  an  antidote  to  Koheleth's 
poisonous  doctrine  of  eating  and  drinking  and  jollification 
as  the  goal  and  aim  of  life  (v.  7) — 

"All  the  toil  of  a  man  is  for  his  mouth  \i.e.,  for  his  belly], 
and  yet  the  appetite  is  never  satisfied." 

^^The  wise  man  being  here  as  elsewhere  also  thegood  man, 
and  by  implication  the  one  who  lives  to  work  and  not  to  enjoy. 

^  My  translation  of  the  close  of  verse  8  is  a  guess  at 
the  meaning  of  an  obscure  phrase. 

^^  Literally:  "sight  \i.e.^  feasting]  of  the  eyes."  This 
saying  may  also  be  an  insertion  by  the  "maxim"  commenta- 
tor, though  it  is  in  keeping  with  Koheleth's  tone  and  thought, 

^*  Literally:  "its  name  has  been  called."  The  "giving 
of  a  name"  according  to  Semitic  ideas  is  equivalent  to  calling 
something  into  existence.  The  phrase,  therefore,  means 
that  whatever  is  has  been  brought  into  existence  long  before 
it  actually  appears,  i.*?.,  things  are  preordained. 

^^  Every  man's  fate  is  fixed — why  struggle  against  it? 
Koheleth  may  be  reflecting  the  corollary  drawn  by  the 
Greek  astrologers  that  man's  career  and  destiny  is  deter- 
mined by  his  horoscope  at  the  time  of  birth  or  (according 
to  some)  at  conception. 

^^^  i.e.,  fate,  which  is  always  stronger  than  man. 

1"^  Literally,  "many  words,"  but  "words"  is  used   by 


Life. 


A  GEN'TLE  CTNIC 

advantage  are  they  to  man?  For  who  knows 
what  is  good  for  a  man  during  the  span  of  his  Hfe 
of  vanity?  And  though  he  spends  [his  Hfe]  like  a 
shadow,^°2  is  there  any  one  who  can  tell  man  what 
is  to  be  after  him  under  the  sun  ?^°' 

XV 

vi;.  i*'-i4  Thedayofdeathisbetterthanthedayofbirth.^"^ 

^^^^f.^l  It  is  better  to  go  to  the   house  of  mourning 

than  to  a  house  of  feasting, 

for  the  former  marks  the  end  of  all  men.^''^ 

Koheleth  also  for  "things."  The  thought  seems  to  be  that 
possessions  do  not  make  man  master  of  his  fate,  since  weahh 
has  been  shown  to  lead  merely  to  the  increase  of  vanity;  it 
does  not  enable  man  to  change  the  course  of  destiny.  Fate  is 
fate — and  man  has  no  advantage  over  anything  else  in 
nature,  which  is  all  preordained. 

^''^  i.e.,  without  seeing  the  reality  of  things,  which  to 
Koheleth  means  enjoyment. 

**'^  No  one  knows  what  is  really  good  for  man,  not 
the  wisest  nor  the  incessant  worker  nor  even  the  astrologer 
whose  knowledge  of  man's  fate  does  not  extend  beyond  the 
grave.  Koheleth  might  have  added  his  usual  refrain — "there- 
fore, enjoy  yourself ,  though  this,too,  is  vanity  and  chasing  after 
wind."  Foramisplaced  commenttovi.  12,  see  below  note  123. 

^"^  In  order  to  counteract  the  effect  of  this  pessimistic 
and  unorthodox  reflection,  which  runs  counter  to  the  accepted 
belief  that  life  is  a  blessing  from  God  and  that  the  longer  it 
lasts  the  greater  the  blessing,  the  pious  commentator  adds  at 
the  beginning  of  the  chapter,  "Better  is  a  name  [i.e.,  a  good 
reputation]  than  fine  oil,"  meaning  the  good  name  that  one 
leaves  behind  after  life  is  over.  Koheleth  is  not  thinking  of 
this,  but  only  of  the  vanity  of  existence — direct  and  undis- 
guised vanity,  not  tempered  by  any  consoling  thought  of 
immortality  or  of  leaving  a  fragrant  memory  behind  one. 
From  this  point  of  view,  we  must  approach  the  chapter  which  is 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  book,  or  we  miss  its  meaning  completely. 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

The  mind    of   the   wise   is    in   the    house   of  vii.  4 
mourning,'"^ 

but  the  mind  of  fools  is  in  the  house  of  mirth,^"^ 

though  this  too  is  vanity.  ^°^* 

Better  is  the  end  of  a  thing  than  its  beginning. ^°^  vii.  8« 

Do  not  say,  why  is  it  that  the  former  days  vii.  10 
were  better  than  these,  for  it  is  not  out  of  wisdom 
that  thou  puttest  this  question. ^°^     Consider  the  vii.  13 

'"^  Our  pious  commentator,  still  intent  upon  giving  the 
reflections  of  Koheleth  a  more  orthodox  and  less  cynical 
turn,  adds  (2*'-3) 

(a)  "And  the  living  will  take  it  to  mind"  and  (b)  "Dissatisfaction 
is  better  than  laughter,  for  through  misfortune  the  mind  is  improved." 

This  point  of  view  is  urged  by  the  friends  of  Job  in  their 
attempts  to  answer  Job's  complaint  against  unjust  suffering. 
^^  i.e.,  you  may  hear  sensible  talk  at  a  funeral,  but 
not  at  a  banquet.  A  funeral  discourse  is  apt  to  be  better 
than  an  after-dinner  speech.  At  this  point  the  "maxim" 
commentator  steps  in  to  introduce  some  wise  saws  in  illustra- 
tion of  the  superiority  of  wisdom,  but  what  he  says  takes 
us  far  away  from  the  subject  that  Koheleth  has  in  mind 
(verses  5-6%  7,  8^  and  9). 

"It  is  better  to  listen  to  the  rebuke  of  a  wise  man, 
than  for  a  man  to  listen  to  the  praise  [literally,  song]  of  fools." 
(6*)  "For  as  the  crackling  of  thorns  under  a  pot, 

so  is  the  applause  of  fools." 
(7)   "For  extortion  deprives  a  wise  man  of  reason, 

and  a  bribe  corrupts  the  mind." 
(8'')  "Better  patience  than  haughtiness." 
(9)    "Do  not  be  prone  to  anger, 

for  anger  endures  [only]  in  the  bosom  of  fools." 

*°^*  i.e.,  even  the  discourse  of  the  wise  in  the  house  of 
mourning  is  vanity.  There  is  not  much  sense  even  in  a  funeral 
oration,  although  it  is  apt  to  be  better  than  an  after-dinner 
speech. 

'°^This  saying  may  likewise  be  an  addition  by  the 
"maxim"  commentator.  The  "end"  is  here  to  be  taken 
as  the  outcome  or  issue. 

223 


ness. 


A   GENTLE  CTNIC 

work  of  God,  for  who  is  able  to  straighten  out 
what  He  has  made  crooked  ?^°^  Therefore,  in  the 
day  of  prosperity,  have  a  good  time;  and  when  the 
day  of  adversity  comes, ^^°  remember  that  God  has 
made  the  one  as  well  as  the  other,  so  as  to  render  it 
impossible  for  man  to  find  out  anything  of  what  is  to 
come  hereafter. 

XVI 

vii.  is-22  J  have  seen  all  kinds  of  things  in  my  life  of 

Overri'<'hi-  Vanity.    Here  is  a  righteous  man  who  perishes  by 

fousness  and  his  rightcousncss,  and  there  is  a  wicked  man  round- 

Overwicked-  Jng  out  his  Hfc"^  in  his  wickedness.   [Therefore]  be 

^^  Those  who  laud  the  past  {laudatores  temporis  acti) 
do  not  betray  their  wisdom  in  imagining  that  things  were 
better  in  former  days.  Things  are  always  the  same — says 
Koheleth.  Our  "maxim"  commentator  in  order  again  to 
give  a  different  tone  to  Koheleth's  depressing  reflection 
seizes  hold  of  the  term  "wisdom"  as  a  handle  for  some  further 
reflections  to  emphasize  his  favorite  theme — the  advantage  of 
wisdom  (verse  ii):  "Wisdom  is  better  than  an  inheritance" 
(so  Renan's  suggestion  by  a  slight  change  of  the  text  which 
says  "with"  instead  of  "than")  "and  an  advantage  to  the 
living"  (lit.:  "those  who  see  the  sun")  (verse  12).  "For  the 
protection  of  wisdom  is  [as  strong]  as  the  protection  of  silver, 
and  the  advantage  of  knowledge  [a  variant  reads,  wisdom] 
is  that  it  gives  life  to  those  who  possess  it." 

^^  Same  thought  as  i.  15.  You  cannot  change  matters, 
and  this  is  another  reason  against  indulging  in  vain  regrets 
that  things  are  worse  at  present  than  they  were  in  the  past — 
even  if  this  were  true,  which  is  not  the  case. 

"°  Prosperity  and  adversity  are  constantly  following 
each  other  in  endless  succession,  and  no  one  can  tell  when  the 
one  will  come  to  an  end,  and  the  other  will  set  in.  Therefore — 
carpe  diem,  enjoy  the  present  and  don't  lament  when  things 
change.  That  is  the  hidden  law  of  nature  and  God's  way  of 
doing  things  which  man  cannot  fathom. 

224 


rHE  WORDS  OF  KOHELErH 

not  overrighteous  and  be  not  overwise — why  ruin 
thyself?   But  do  not  be  overwicked  and  do  not  be  a 
fool,  why  die  before  thy  time?^^-   It  is  good  to  take  vii.  i8» 
hold  of  this  and  not  to  refrain  from  that.^^^   There  vii.  20 
is  no  man  on  earth  so  righteous  that  he  [always] 
does  the  right  thing  and  never  sins. 

Furthermore,  do  not  pay  attention  to  all  that 
is  said  about  thee,  lest  thou  hear  thy  servant 
defame  thee.^^^  Surely,  many  times  as  thou  knowest 
thou  hast  defamed  others. 

XVII 

All  this  I  tested  by  wisdom.    I  resolved  to  be  vii.  23-28 
wise,  but  it  was  far  from  me.   Far  off  is  that  which  ^'^"♦'y  °/ '^^ 
exists  and  very  deep — who  can  find  it  outr"^     i  frisdom 

and  for 

"^  i.e.,  has  a  long  life,  which  according  to  the  conven-  Decent 
tional  view  is  a  sign  of  God's  favor  and  the  reward  of  virtue,  JVomen. 
as  set  forth  in  Psalms  xci.  16;  Proverbs  x.  27  etc.,  etc. 

^^-  If  you  carry  your  wickedness  too  far,  you  will  be 
caught' and  perish,  just  like  the  overrighteous. 

"^  Act  so  as  to  get  the  most  out  of  life.  Exercise  judg- 
ment so  as  to  know  what  to  do  and  what  to  refrain  from  doing. 
The  "pious"  commentator  gives  the  rather  cynical  advice  a 
different  turn  by  adding  (verse  18'')  "He  who  fears  God  will 
steer  clear  of  everything" — he  will  neither  fall  into  the  pit- 
falls of  wickedness  nor  suffer  because  of  his  righteousness. 
To  this  the  "wisdom"  commentator  adds  (verse  19):  "Wis- 
dom makes  a  wise  man  stronger  than  the  ten  rulers  of  a  city." 
The  "ten  rulers"  constitute  the  city  council. 

^^'^  Do  not  be  too  anxious  to  find  out  what  people  think 
of  you.  You  may  find  out  that  even  the  servants  of  your 
household  gossip  about  you — just  as  you  gossip  about  others. 

"^  This  is  probably  a  popular  saying.  A  similar  thought 
that  wisdom  is  far  off  is  to  be  found  in  Job,  e.g.,  xi.  7-8  and 
xxviii.  12-28. 

IS  225 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

firmly  resolved  ^^®  to  search  and  to  seek  wisdom. 
The  substance"^  of  what  I  found  out  was  that 
wickedness  is  foolish  and  that  folly  is  madness. 

vii.  26»  And  I  [also]  found  out  that  more  bitter  than 

death  is  a  woman  whose  mind  is  [all]  snares  and 
nets,   and  whose  hands   are  fetters. ^^^     There    is 

vii.  28  something  [else]  which  I  sought  but  never  found. 
Among  a  thousand,  I  did  find  a  [real]  man,  but 
never  a  [decent]  woman  among  all  these. ^^^ 

XVIII 120 
viii.  2-9  Obey  the  order  of  the  king.^^i 
.  ^^'  Do  not  be  in  a  hurry  to  go  into  his  presence, ^-^ 

Caprice  of 

Rulers.  "6  A  gloss  to  "  I  resolved  "   (literally  "  I  turned  about ") 

adds  "my  heart  to  know,"  explanatory  of  the  verb  used. 

*i^  A  misplaced  comment  (v.  27*)  to  this  unusual  word 
"substance"  or  "sum"  explains  it  as  follows,  "See  this  I 
have  found,  Koheleth  says,  one  and  one  to  find  the  sum," 
i.e.^  counting  up  one  thing  after  the  other,  the  total  of  what 
can  be  found  out  is  that  wickedness  is  foolish  and  does  not 
pay.   Surely  not  much  of  a  result  for  all  one's  pains. 

"*  Our  pious  commentator  adds  (26'')  "He  that  is  good 
before  God  shall  escape  from  her,  but  the  sinner  shall  be 
caught  by  her."  On  Koheleth's  attitude  toward  woman,  see 
above,  p.  161  et  seq. 

^1'  Our  pious  commentator  adds  in  characteristic 
fashion,  to  furnish  the  antidote  to  Koheleth's  cynicism 
(verse  29),  "Besides,  however,  I  have  found  this  that  God 
has  made  man  straight,  but  they  have  devised  many  con- 
trivances," i.e..,  people  have  found  various  methods  to  cor- 
rupt the  originally  fine  nature  of  man. 

1^°  The  section  is  again  full  of  sayings,  added  in  part  by 
the  commentator  who  is  bent  upon  using  every  occasion  to 
counterbalance  Koheleth's  distasteful  philosophy  by  the 
praise  of  wisdom,  and  in  part  by  the  pious  commentator  who 
seeks  to  give  an  orthodox  turn  to  his  impious  philosophy  of 

226 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

for  whatever  he  desires,  he  does.  vHi.  4 

Inasmuch  as  the  word  of  a  king  is  supreme, 
who  can  say  to  him,  what  art  thou  doing  f^^^ 

life.    So  the  "maxim"  commentator  introduces  the  chapter 
with  (viii.  i) 

(a)  "Who  is  like  the  wise  man,  and  who  knows  [as  he  does]   the 

explanation  of  a  matter?" 

(b)  "The  wisdom  of  a  man  illumines  his  face, 

And  the  coarseness  of  his  countenance  is  changed." 

(At  the  beginning  of  the  second  verse  there  is  an  entirely 
meaningless  "I" — evidently  a  textual  error.) 

^^^  A  commentator  adds  "because  of  the  oath  of  God," 
as  though  Koheleth  wanted  to  justify  obedience  to  a  king 
because  one  has  sworn  fealty  to  him.  What  Koheleth  says  is 
ironically  meant.  Obey  and  do  what  the  king  says  and  do 
not  rush  to  him  with  a  complaint,  for  he  will  in  any  case  do 
just  as  he  pleases. 

122  Again  the  "pious"  commentator  totally  distorts  the 
irony  of  the  advice — and  no  doubt  with  intent — by  adding 
"Do  not  plead  a  bad  cause,"  as  though  this  were  the  reason 
why  one  should  not  be  in  haste  to  seek  an  audience  of  a  king. 
The  entire  flavor  of  the  original  book  is  lost  by  such  additions. 

'^  The  pious  commentator  (or  the  "maxim"  commen- 
tator in  a  pious  spirit)  adds  (verse  5) 
"The  law  observer  shall  know  no  harm, 

And  a  wise  mind  knows  the  [proper]  time  and  manner." 

To  this  some  super-commentator  added  (verse  6*, 
quoting  chapter  iii.   i) 

"for  to  every  occurrence  there  is  a  time  and  manner." 

The  second  part  of  verse  6,  reading 
"for  man's  evil  weighs  heavily  upon  him" 
is  in  the  style  of  Koheleth,  but  is  not  in  place  here,  as  little 
as  is  verse  7, 

"For  no  one  knows  the  future,  so  that  there  might  be 
some  one  to  tell  him  when  it  will  come  to  pass." 

The  two  utterances  (6''  and  7)  are  perhaps  to  be  taken  as 
misplaced  comments  belonging  to  vi.   12, 

"Who  knows  what  is  good  for  a  man's  life.^" 
227 


Injustice. 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

viii.  8  And  yet  no  one  can  rule  the  wind,^^* 
or  restrain  the  wind. 
No  one  can  lord  it  over  the  day  of  death, 
nor  ensure  escape  in  war.^-^ 

All  this  I  experienced  by  applying  my  mind 
to  everything  that  happened  under  the  sun,  where 
man  has  the  power  to  harm  his  fellow. 

XIX 

viii.  10-17  And  so    [among  other  things]   I   have   seen 

No  Solution  wickcd    men    buried,    and    [people]  coming  back 
J°J  from   the   sanctified    ground, ^-^  and   going    about 
singing  their  praises^"  j^  ^-j^^  very  city  in  which 
they  acted  thus — surely  this  is  vanity. ^^^ 

to  which  some  one  might  appropriately  have  added  "for 
man's  evil  weighs  heavily  upon  him,  that  there  is  no  one 
who  knows  the  future,  so  that  he  might  tell  a  man  when  it 
will  come. "  No  one  can  tell,  our  commentator  implies,  for  no 
one  knows. 

^24  There  are  limitations  even  to  the  powers  of  a  king — 
he  has  no  control  over  the  wind,  nor  over  death  nor  over 
the  chances  of  war. 

^2^  The  pious  commentator  adds  (verse  8'')  "nor  will 
wickedness  help  its  possessors  to  escape." 

^^^  i.e.,  the  cemetery. 

^27  i.e.,  the  praises  of  the  wicked.  I  follow  the  Greek 
text  which  by  the  change  of  a  single  letter  in  the  Hebrew 
obtains  a  satisfactory  meaning,  instead  of  the  senseless  "are 
forgotten."  Koheleth's  point  is  that  the  wicked  are  not 
forgotten,  but  praised  and  celebrated  even  after  death,  and 
in  the  very  place  in  which  they  spent  their  evil  lives. 

^2^  At  this  point,  our  pious  commentator  enters  upon  an 
elaborate  argument  (verses  11-13)  somewhat  in  the  style  of 
Job's  friends  to  prove  that  the  wicked  are  punished,  even 
though  the  punishment  be  delayed.     "Because  the  sentence 

228 


rHE  WORDS  OF  KOHELEril 

There  is  another  vanity  which  happens  upon  viii.  14 
earth — that  there  are  righteous  who  are  treated 
as  though  they  were  wicked,  and  that  there  are 
wicked  whose  lot  is  as  though  they  were  righteous 
— I  reflected  that  this  is  surely  vanity. 

Therefore,  I  commend  joy,  because  there  is 
nothing  better  for  a  man  under  the  sun  than  to 
eat  and  drink  and  to  be  merry,  as  the  accompa- 
niment to  his  toil  during  the  span  of  life  allotted  to 
him  by  God  under  the  sun. 

When  I  set  my  mind  to  acquire  wisdom  and  viH- 16^ 
to  penetrate  to  the  core  of  what  happens  on  earth, ^-^ 
I  realized   [finally  1  in  regard  to  the  work  of  God  viii- 17 
that  man  cannot  understand  what  happens  under 
the  sun,  despite  all  efforts  to  seek  a  solution,  and 
though  he  deprive  himself  of  sleep  day  and  night,^^° 
he  cannot  fathom  it;   and  even  if  a  wise  man^^^ 
thinks  that  he  knows — yet  he  cannot  find  out.^^^  '^-  '"* 
Man   does   not   know.     Everything  in  the  past^^^ 
is  vanity.^^^ 


for  an  evil  deed  is  not  promptly  carried  out,  therefore  the 
inclination  of  man  is  to  do  evil  [cf.  Genesis  viii.  21].  But 
although  a  sinner  does  a  great  deal  of  evil  and  is  accorded  a 
respite,  yet  I  know  that  good  fortune  will  attend  those  who  fear 
God  [comment  or  variant:  Those  who  fear  His  presence] 
and  that  it  shall  not  be  well  for  the  wicked,  and  that  he  will 
not  lengthen  out  his  days  as  a  shadow  [  ?  j,  because  he  does 
not  fear  the  presence  of  God." 

^-'^  The  second  part  of  verse  16  is  misplaced.  It  belongs 
in  the  middle  of  verse  17.    See  the  following  note. 

'^"  This  part  of  the  verse  "and  though  ....  night"  is 
taken  over  from  v.  16. 

'^'  i.e.,  a  philosopher. 

229 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

XX 

ix.  2-10  Since  there  is  a  common  fate  to  all,  to  the 

Death  and  j-jg^^eous  and  to  the  wicked,  to  the  good  [and  to 

Oblivion  "'^     ,       1       , ,  1  ,  1 

Common  the  Dad],^'^  to  the  clean  and  to  the  unclean,  to  the 

Fate,  one  who  sacrifices  and  to  the  one  who  does  not 

Therefore,  sacrifice:  as  the  virtuous  so  the  sinner,  the  one  who 

Eat 

Drink,  and  be  ^^"^^^^^  and  the  onc  who  fears  an  oath — this  is 
Merry,  the  worst  cvil  among  all  the  things  that  happen 
under  the  sun,  that  there  should  be  one  fate  to  all, 
and  that  the  mind  of  the  children  of  men  is  full  of 
evil  and  of  foolish  thoughts  while  they  live  and  after 
that — to  the  dead  [they  go.] 

Yet  there  is  at  least  some  assurance  to  the  one 
who  is  classed  with  the  living,  for  as  a  living  dog, 
he  is  better  ofi^  than  a   dead   lion.^^^     Since   the 

^"  The  greater  part  of  the  first  verse  of  chapter  ix.  is 
taken  up  with  a  comment  in  the  spirit  of  the  pious  commen- 
tator to  give  a  different  turn  to  Koheleth's  thought.  The 
commentator,  repeating  from  (verse  i6)  "all  this  I  set  my 
mind  to  search, "  says :  "  all  this,"  namely,  that  "  the  righteous 
and  the  wise  and  their  works  are  in  the  hand  of  God"  to 
which  a  super-commentator  adds:  "also  hate  and  love." 
After  this  the  original  text  sets  in:  "Everything  in  the  past 
is  vanity"  (end  of  section  XIX). 

^''  Literally:  "before  them,"  i.e.,  anterior  to  them,  i.e., 
all  experience  is  of  no  avail  in  penetrating  the  mystery  about  us. 

^'^  So  the  Greek  text  reads  instead  of  the  Hebrew 
"everything."  The  difference  between  "vanity"  (h-b-l) 
and  "everything"  {h-k-l)  in  Hebrew  is  simply  a  slight  curve 
to  one  letter,  which  changes  a  Hebrew  h  to  k. 

1^^  So  the  Greek  text. 

^*®  i.e.,  even  though  while  living  he  leads  a  dog's  life, 
that  is  better  than  being  a  dead  lion.  So  Ehrlich's  interpre- 
tation, which  I  follow.  Koheleth  here  quotes  a  popular  say- 
ing, but  gives  it  an  ironical  turn. 

230 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

living  [at  least]  know  that  they  will  die,  whereas  the 
dead  know  absolutely  nothing.  Nor  is  there  any 
remembrance^"  of  them,  for  their  memory  is  for- 
gotten. Aye,  their  love  as  their  hate  and  jealousy 
is  utterly  lost,  and  they  have  no  further  share  for- 
ever in  all  that  happens  under  the  sun. 

Therefore  go,  eat  thy  bread  with  joy. 
And  drink  thy  wine  with  a  merry  heart. 
For  God  has  already  given  His  approval  to 

thy  deeds. ^'^ 
At  all  times  be  thy  garments  white, ^'* 
And  let  oil  not  be  lacking  for  thy  head. 
Enjoy  life  with  the  woman  of  thy  love,^^" 
All  the  days  of  thy  vain  life,"^ 
Which  God  has  given  thee  under  the  sun, 
for  that  is  thy  portion  in  life,  and  the  compensation 
for  thy  toil  under  the  sun.    Whatever  thou  canst 
afford  with  thy  substance  do,^*^  for  there  is  no  ac- 
tivity, or  reckoning,  or  knowledge,  and  no  wisdom 
in  Sheol,^^^  whither  thou  goest. 

*''  So  by  a  slight  change  in  the  text  instead  of  "reward," 
which  is,  not  in  place  here. 

''^  Namely,  by  permitting  you  to  be  joyful.  The  same 
thought  as  above,  note  35. 

^'^  i.e.,  clean. 

'^^  On  this  passage,  for  which  we  have  a  remarkable 
parallel  in  Babylonian  literature,  see  above,  p.  174. 

^*^  A  variant  or  comment  that  has  found  its  way  into 
the  text  reads  (9'') :  "all  the  days  of  thy  vanity" — like  vii.  15 
"my  life  of  vanity." 

^^'  So  correctly  interpreted  by  Ehrlich. 

^^  This  shows  that  Koheleth  clings  to  the  Semitic  belief 
in  a  gathering-place  in  a  cave  under  the  earth  for  all  the  dead, 
irrespective  of  their  merits  or  deeds  in  this  world.      The 

231 


A  GENriE  CYNIC 
XXI 

ix.  11-16  And  again,  I  experienced  under  the  sun  that 

Chance  -J-J^g  j.^^.^  -g  j^q|-  ^q  ^J^^  Swift, 

UnceZinlus  Nor  the  battle  to  the  strong; 
oi  Life.  Wise  men  lack  an  income, 

Prophets^^^  do  not  possess  riches, 

And  the  learned  lack  wealth,  ^^''^ 

But  time  and  chance  overtake  them  all. 

Furthermore,  man  does  not  know  his  time.^^^  As 
fish  are  caught  in  a  net,^^^and  as  birds  are  trapped,  so 
the  children  of  men  are  entrapped  at  an  unlucky 
moment,  when  [evil]  comes  suddenly  upon  them. 

This  I  experienced^^^  under  the  sun,  and  it 
seemed  a  great  [evil]"^  to  me. 

There  was  a  small  town  with  few  inhabitants, 
and  a  great  king  came  and  surrounded  it  and  built 
great  bulwarks  against  it.  And  therewasinthe  town 
a  man  of  humble  birth^^^  but  wise,  and  he  saved  the 
town  through  his  wisdom,  but  no  one  took  notice 

picture  that  he  has  in  mind  of  the  nether  world  accords  with 
what  we  learn  from  Babylonian  literature  as  a  place  where 
the  dead  lie  inactive,  conscious  but  unable  to  do  anything 
for  themselves.  See  Jastrow,  "Hebrews  and  Babylonian 
traditions,"  chapter  iv, 

^^*  So  read  by  a  textualchangefor  "men  of  understand- 
ing." 

^^^^  So  by  a  slight  change  in  the  text. 

"^  i.e.,  his  end. 

^^  The  word  "evil"  added  to  "net"  is  superfluous.  It 
belongs  perhaps  to  the  close  of  verse  13,  as  the  subject  of  the 
verb  "comes  suddenly." 

"^ The  word  "wisdom"  after  "I  experienced"  is  either 
misplaced,  or  is  an  error  for  "  evil "  which  the  context  demands, 
like  in  ii.  21  and  vi.  i. 

^*^  To  be  supplied.   See  preceding  note. 
232 


THE   WORDS  OF  KOHELEm 

of  that  man  of  humble  birth. '^°  And  I  reflected  that  i^- 16 
wisdom  [nevertheless]  is  better  than  strength,  even 
when  the  wisdom  of  the  man  of  humble  birth  is 
despised  and  his  words  be  not  heeded. ^^^ 

XXII 

If  a  ruler's  anger  is  stirred  up  against  thee,  x.  4-20 
do  not  throw  up  thy  post,^^^  for  gentleness  allays  Capnceoj 

,       rr  1-9  Rulers. 

real  onences.^''^ 

1*9  Misken  "plebeian"  as  above  iv,  13.     See  note  64. 

^^°  This  illustration  of  the  lack  of  reward  to  those  who 
merit  it  probably  rests  upon  some  historical  incident. 

^^^  The  point  is  that  even  though  the  wise  man  who 
saved  the  city  had  not  been  listened  to,  nevertheless  his 
wisdom  was  superior  to  mere  strength.  Koheleth  sets  aside 
the  ingratitude  as  natural  in  a  topsy-turvy  world  where  all 
is  chance  and  uncertainty.  The  "maxim"  commentator 
could  not  miss  such  a  good  opportunity  of  introducing 
some  saws  about  the  advantage  of  wisdom,  and  so  he  gives 
us  a  series  of  six  that  might  just  as  well  have  been  included  in 
the  Book  of  Proverbs,  for  they  are  entirely  in  the  style  of 
that  collection.  The  series  extends  from  ix.  17  to  x.  3. 

(i)  "The  words  of  the  wise,  though  spoken  quietly, 
are  stronger  than  the  loud  cry  of  an  arch-fool." 

(2)  "  Better  is  wisdom  than  weapons." 

(Here  the  "pious"  commentator  adds  "one  sinner  de- 
stroys much  good" — though  this  probably  belongs  before 
verse  2  of  chapter  10.) 

(3)  "A  dead  fly  spoils  the  perfumer's  precious  oil" 

(4)  " .\  little  foolishness  annuls  wisdom." 

(The  text  as  it  stands  gives  no  sense,  but  the  meaning 
appears  to  be  as  indicated  in  the  translation,  which  rests 
upon  some  necessary  textual  changes.) 

(5)  "A  wise  man's  mind  is  on  his  right  side  {i.e.,  the  good  side], 

but  a  fool's  mind  is  on  the  left." 

(6)  "Also,  when  a  fool  struts  in  his  senseless  way — 

he  says  of  every  one  else.  *he  is  a  fool'." 
In  the  text  and  translation  of  the  third  and  fourth  saying,  I 
follow  Ehrlich. 

233 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

There  is  an  evil  which  I  observed  under  the 
sun,  which  proceeds  from  a  ruler. 

FoUy^^*  is  often  placed  in  high  positions, 
while  the  choice^^^  spirits  sit  in  an  humble  place. ^'^^ 
X-  7  I  have  seen  slaves  on  horses,  and  princes  walking 
on  foot  like  slaves.^" 

^^2  Do  not  resign  your  office,  but  try  to  pacify  the  ruler. 
The  man  who  resigns  confesses  his  guilt,  according  to  Kohe- 
leth  who  cynically  adds  that  by  pacifying  a  ruler's  anger 
you  can  escape  punishment  for  real  offences. 

^°^  This  cynicism  is  too  much  for  the  pious  commen- 
tator, and  so  he  adds  to  "great  sins,"  {i.e.,  real  offences,)  "as 
an  unintentional  error,"  implying  that  the  "sin"  was  unin- 
tentional, which  is  exactly  what  Koheleth  did  not  mean  to 
convey.  This  note,  however,  has  crept  into  the  text  in  the 
wrong  place.  It  must  be  removed  from  the  middle  of  verse 
5  and  placed  at  the  end  of  verse  4. 

^^*  The  abstract  is  used  in  the  sense  of  "fools." 

^^*  Literally:  "the  tens,"  i.e.,  the  "upper  ten,"  as  we 
would  say.  To  read  "rich,"  as  is  commonly  done,  spoils  the 
thought. 

^^^  i.e.,  a  ruler  often  makes  bad  appointments  to  offices. 

^^^  Our  maxim  commentator  again  steps  in  and  adds  a 
further  series  of  ten  wise  saws  (verses  8-14*,  15*  and  18) 
which  have  no  connection  whatsoever  with  the  thought 
and  philosophy  of  Koheleth. 

(i)  "He  who  digs  a  pit  shall  fall  therein, 

And  he  who  breaks  through  a  wall,  a  serpent  shall  bite  him." 

(2)  "He  who  quarries  stones  shall  be  hurt  by  them, 
And  he  who  cleaves  wood,  shall  get  a  cut." 

(3)"If  the  iron  be  dull"  [comment:!.^.,  "the  edge  has  not  been  whetted" 
"One  must  exert  one's  utmost  force." 

(4)  "The  advantage  of  wisdom  is  that  it  secures  success." 

(5)  "  If  a  serpent  bites  before  it  is  charmed, 

the  charm  has  no  advantage." 

(6)  "Words  from  the  mouth  of  a  wise  man  are  full  of  grace, 

but  the  lips  of  the  fool  confuse  him"  [i.e.,  a  fool  condemns  him- 
self by  his  utterances]. 

(7)  "The  beginning  of  the  words  Issuing  from  him  is  folly, 

and  the  end  of  his  speech  is  madness"  [a  variant  says,  evil]. 

(8)  "The  fool  multiplies  words." 

234 


rHE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

Woe  to  thee,  O  land,  whose  king  is  a  puppet,  ^  i6 

and  whose  princes  feast  in  the  morning! ^^* 
Happyart  thou,  O  land,  whose  king  is  independent, ^^^  «  '7 
and  whose  princes  feast  at  the  proper  time, 
for  strength  and  not  for  guzzHng!^^° 

At  this  point  (14'')  the  text  has  an  insertion,  "Man 
does  not  know  what  shall  be,  and  who  can  tell  him  what  will 
be  after  him,"  which  has  strayed  from  its  proper  place — 
perhaps  from  chapter  vi.  12  or  from  viii.  7. 

(9)  "The  toil  of  a  fool  wears  him  out." 

The  balance  of  this  v.  15'',  "Who  does  not  know  his 
way  to  the  city,"  appears  to  be  a  gloss  to  "fool"  in  v.  12; 
14  or  15. 

(10)  "Through  neglect,  the  beam-work  sinks, 

And  through  idleness,  the  house  leaks"    (verse  l8). 

The  overloading  of  this  chapter  through  long  insertions 
of  sayings  and  comments,  so  that  only  seven  verses  out  of  the 
twenty  of  which  chapter  x  consists  belong  to  the  original 
text,  is  particularly  noticeable.  The  aim  is  unmistakable  to 
change  the  entire  character  of  the  book  so  as  to  give  it  the 
appearance  of  a  collection  of  sayings,  rather  than  an  exposi- 
tion of  a  particular  philosophy  of  life. 

*^*  A  sign  of  gluttony  and  riotous  living.  The  proper 
time  for  a  feast  is  in  the  evening,  as  a  recreation  after  the 
day's  work. 

^^'  Literally:  "a  free  man,"  i.e.,  not  at  the  mercy  of  his 
advisers. 

^^^  Another  saying  is  introduced  at  this  point  (verse 
18)  which  belongs  to  the  preceding  series — above  note  157, 
and  has  there  been  given  as  10.  Verse  19  is  a  comment  on  the 
closing  words  of  verse  17  "for  strength  and  not  for  guzzling" 
to  explain  that  the  proper  kind  of  a  feast  is  one  arranged 
"for  laughter,  with  wine  to  enliven  life  and  sufficient  money 
to  provide  for  everything,"  i.e.,  to  foot  the  bill. 

The  admonition  is  not  quite  in  the  spirit  of  Koheleth, 
but  also  does  not  contradict  that  spirit,  as  do  so  many  of  the 
comments.    Even  the  Psalmist  civ.  15  ("Wine  that  makes  a 

235 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

'^-  20  Do  not  even  on  thy  couch^®^  defame  a  king, 

Nor  in  thy  bed-chamber  denounce  a  rich  man, 

For  a  bird  of  heaven  will  carry  the  sound, 

And  a  winged  creature  will  reveal  the  utterance. 

XXIII 

^'•2,-6  Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  face  of  the  waters, 
Uncertainty  of  ^or  after  many  days  thou  shalt  find  it.^^^ 
Things,  xi.  2  Divide  it  up  into  seven  or  eight  portions,^^^ 

for  thou  knowest  not  what^^^  will  happen  on  earth. ^^^ 

man's  spirit  merry")  approves  of  drinking,  though  the  gen- 
eral attitude  towards  viniculture  until  the  Exilic  period  was 
not  favorable.  See  the  author's  paper  on  "Wine  in  the  Pen- 
tateuchal  Codes"  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Oriental 
Society,  vol.  xxxiii.  pp.  180-192. 

^^^  By  a  slight  change  in  the  text — suggested  by  Ehr- 
lich — we  obtain  "couch"  instead  of  "thought,"  which  forms 
a  better  parallel  to  "bed-chamber." 

^^2  A  bit  of  shrewd  advice  to  take  risks  in  business  by 
trusting  one's  goods  on  ships  that  will  after  many  days  re- 
turn with  a  profit,  but  do  not  commit  all  your  possessions  to 
ow<?  venture.  Send  your  goods  out  in  many  ships.  "Bread" 
does  not  refer  specifically  to  corn  trade,  but  is  used  for 
"goods"  in  general. 

163  "Seven  or  eight"  represent  a  large  number.  As  we 
say,  "Do  not  put  all  your  eggs  in  one  basket."  See  Haupt, 
"The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes"  in  "Oriental  Studies"  (Boston, 
1899),  p.  274,  note  52. 

'®^  A  commentator  adds  the  word  "evil." 

'^^  Our  "maxim"  commentator  cannot  resist  the  temp- 
tation to  add  some  practical  saws  of  his  own  (verses  3-4) : 

(1)  "If  the  clouds  be  filled  with  rain, 

they  will  empty  themselves  on  the  earth." 

(2)  "If  a  tree  falls  to  the  south  or  to  the  north, 

where  the  tree  falls,  there  it  remains." 

(3)  "A  wind  observer  does  not  sow, 

and  a  cloud  gazer  does  not  harvest." 

236 


rHE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

As  thou  knowest  not  the  way  of  the  spirit  ^i.  5 

into  the  bones  in  a  pregnant  womb,^^^ 

so  thou  dost  not  know  the  work  of  God  who  makes 

all  things. 
In  the  morning  sow  thy  seed, 
and  till  evening  let  not  thy  hand  rest,^^^ 
For  thou  knowest  not  which  will  succeed,  this  or 

that, 
or  whether  both  alike  shall  be  good. 

XXIV 

Light  is  sweet,  ^-  V^\l^ 

And  it  is  pleasant  for  the  eyes  to  see  the  sun.  ^^,^,7^ 

Though  a  man  live  many  years.  You  Can, 

Let  him  be  happy  throughout.  ^^^"'"'^  ^^'^. 

And  remember  the  days  of  darkness, ^^^  ^' 

For  they  will  be  many. 
Whatever  is  coming^^^  is  vanity. 

Rejoice,  O  young  man  in  thy  youth,  xi.  9^^ 

And  be  happy  in  the  days  of  thy  young  vigor  1 
And  follow  the  inclinations  of  thy  mind. 

The  "wind  observer"  as  the  "cloud  gazer"  is  the 
diviner  who  looks  for  omens  in  winds  and  clouds.  The  ref- 
erence to  the  diviner  is  sarcastic.  He  is  an  idler  who  does 
not  work.  This  last  is  more  properly  an  elaboration  to  verse  6. 

While  the  spirit  of  these  three  sayings  is  quite  in 
accord  with  that  of  Koheleth,  yet  they  take  us  away  from 
the  immediate  theme,  and  thus  reveal  their  origin  as  ad- 
ditions by  some  other  hand. 

^^  i.e.,  how  life  enters  into  the  embryo.  So  Ehrlich's 
explanation. 

^^^  i.e.,  be  active  at  all  times  from  youth  to  old  age. 

*^^  Old  age  with  its  infirmities — and  death. 

"'^j:.<?.,  old  age  and  death. 

237 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

And  the  sight  of  thine  eyes  !^^° 
zi.  io»  Put  away  trouble  from  thy  mind/^^ 
xii- 1*"  Before  the  evil  days  come  on, 

And  the  years  approach  of  which  thou  wilt  say, 

"I  have  no  pleasure  in  them." 

Before  the  sun  is  darkened^"  and  the  clouds  return 
after  the  rain,^^^ 

The  day  when  the  guardians  of  the  house"*  tremble, 

And  the  strong  men^^^  are  bent. 

And  the  grinding  maidens  cease,^^^  for  they  are  few; 

And  the  peering  ladies^^^  [who  look  out]  through  the 
windows  grow  dim. 

^'^  i.e.,  do  whatever  you  please  to  enjoy  life.  This  was 
too  much  for  our  pious  commentator,  who  in  order  to  give  an 
entirely  different  turn  to  Koheleth's  dangerous  advice  adds: 
(9')  "  But  know  that  for  all  these  things  God  will  bring  thee 
into  judgment." 

^^^  Once  more  the  pious  commentator  adds  the  antidote 
and  effectively  spoils  the  thought  of  Koheleth  (10^),  "And 
remove  evil  from  thy  flesh,  for  youth  and  prime  are  vanity," 
and  (xii.  i^)  "Remember  thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy  youth." 

^'^To  which  a  commentator  adds  "The  light  [as  well  as] 
the  moon  and  the  stars"  The  "light"  is  the  daylight,  while 
the  moon  and  stars  are  the  lights  of  night. 

"^  The  picture  of  clouds  instead  of  the  sun  returning 
after  the  rain  suggests  old  age  which  cannot  look  forward 
to  a  renewal  of  youth  and  sunshine,  but  only  to  inactivity 
and  final  darkness. 

^'^  The  hips  are  meant,  or  according  to  the  Talmud 
(Sabbath  152^)  the  "ribs." 

"5  The  legs  totter. 

''^  The  grinding  maidens  are  the  teeth  which  begin  to 
drop  out  upon  the  approach  of  old  age. 

^^^i.(?.,  the  eyes  which  are  pictured  as  the  veiled  women 
of  the  Orient,  peering  through  lattice  windows  to  see  what 
is  going  on. 

238 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETH 

And  the  doors  are  closed  to  the  street.' '** 

When  the  sound  of  the  mill  is  low,^^^ 

And  one  rises  at  the  twittering  of  the  birds  ;^^° 

And    all   the   daughters   of   song   lie   prostrate. '^^ 

One  is  afraid  of  a  height,^^^ 

And   terror  is  on  the  road.^^' 

And  the  almond  tree  blossoms, ^^^ 

And  the  grasshopper  is  burdensome,^^^ 

And  the  caper  berry  becomes  ineffectual.'^® 

Before  the  silver  cord  is  snapped, '^^ 


^^^  According  to  the  Talmud  {ibid.),  this  refers  to 
constipation  which  sets  in  with  old  age,  but  it  is  more  plausible 
to  explain  the  "closed"  doors  as  the  ears,  which  no  longer 
receive  sound. 

^^'  Loud  sounds  are  only  faintly  heard  when  deafness 
sets  in. 

^^^  Old  people  are  easily  awakened  and  cannot  sleep 
long. 

'^^  The  voice  becomes  harsh  and,  later,  quite  faint. 

^^2  Climbing  is  difficult. 

^^  Even  walking  on  the  highway  is  fraught  with  danger 
when  the  feebleness  of  old  age  sets  in. 

'^^  The  blossoms  of  the  almond  tree  are  at  first  pink  at 
the  base  but  turn  white.  The  reference  is  to  the  change  of 
the  color  of  the  hair  in  old  age. 

^^*  According  to  the  Talmud  (Sabbath,  152''),  thegrass- 
hopper  is  a  picture  for  the  male  organ,  which  would  make 
the  line  refer  to  the  loss  of  sexual  vitality  with  the  approach 
of  old  age.  It  is  also  possible,  however,  that  the  compari- 
son with  the  grasshopper  is  intended  to  suggest  that  the 
smallest  weight  is  a  burden,  or  that  a  man's  frame  shrinks, 
and  he  loses  weight  until  he  seems  to  be  merely  a  lean  grass- 
hopper.   Even  then  life  is  a  burden. 

186  The  caper  berry  was  used  to  excite  the  sexual  pas- 
sion.   With  old  age  sexual  pleasures  also  go. 

'*'  The  spine  is  bent  so  that  one  no  longer  walks  erect. 

239 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

And  the  golden  bowl  is  broken. ^^* 
And  the  jar  is  shattered  at  the  spring, 
And  the  wheel  is  broken  at  the  cistern. ^^^ 
When  man  goes  to  his  eternal  house; 
And  the  wallers  go  about  the  street. ^"^ 

xii.  7»  And  the  dust  returns  to  the  earth  as  it  was.^''^ 

x»-  s''  All  is  vanity.  ^92 
xii-  IS-* The  End.193 

^^*  The  golden  bowl  is  the  brain,  which  loses  its  power 
when  old  age  sets  in. 

^^®  The  jar  at  the  spring  may  be  the  picture  of  the 
kidneys  which  refuse  to  work,  and  the  wheel  at  the  cistern, 
the  machinery  of  the  body — bowels,  intestines  and  liver — 
which  does  not  carry  off  the  discharges.  At  all  events  the 
two  verses  together  are  to  indicate  that  the  natural  functions 
are  impaired.  The  whole  machinery  breaks  down.  This  in- 
terpretation of  the  final  utterance  of  Koheleth  as  a  series  of 
metaphors  to  describe  the  failing  vitality  of  all  organs  and 
functions  with  the  approach  of  old  age  reverts  to  the  early 
Jewish  commentators  and  exegetes,  and  is  undoubtedly 
correct.  An  English  physician  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
Dr.  John  S.  Smith,  reached  the  same  view  independently, 
and  set  it  forth  in  his  interesting  book,  "The  Portrait  of  Old 
Age"  (2nd  ed.  London,  1666). 

^^^  the  hired  mourners  for  the  funeral  procession,  as  is 
still  customary  in  the  Orient.  These  two  lines  form  the  last 
part  of  verse  5  in  the  Hebrew  text,  but  their  proper  place  is 
after  verse  6.  Through  a  careless  scribe  they  were  misplaced. 

^^^  Again  a  direct  reference  to  Genesis  iii.  19.  The 
pious  commentator,  expressing  the  current  orthodox  belief, 
adds  "and  the  spirit  returns  to  God  who  gave  it."  That  is 
not  Koheleth's  view. 

192  This  represents  the  close  of  the  original  book.  The 
balance  of  chapter  xii.,  verses  8-14,  is  taken  up  with  a 
series  of  no  less  than  eleven  comments  and  further  endeavors 
to  remove  the  heterodox  taint.  First,  a  commentator  or  reader 
added  to  "all  is    vanity"  a  note  to  complete  the  summing 

240 


THE  WORDS  OF  KOHELETU 

up  of  the  teachings  of  the  book  (verse  8),  "Koheleth  says, 
vanity  of  vanities."  To  this  another  commentator  adds  a  bio- 
graphical note  (verse  9),  "And  furthermore  Koheleth  was  a 
wise  man  [i.<?.,  a  philosopher]  who  in  other  ways  instructed 
people,  by  composing  and  searching."  A  third  hand  explains 
this  by  asserting  that "  he  compiled  many  proverbs."  Another 
reader  sums  up  an  apologetic  view  of  Koheleth  (verse  10) 
as  follows:  "Koheleth  aimed  at  a  pleasant  style  [literally, 
agreeable  words]  with  straightforward  expression";  and 
by  way  of  explanation  for  the  latter  phrase,  someone 
added  "truthful  words,  "z.^.,  in  order  to  understand  Koheleth, 
one  must  bear  in  mind  that  his  aim  was  to  be  perfectly 
sincere  and  that,  while  writing  gracefully,  he  spoke  the  truth. 
See  further  above  p.  95.  There  follows  a  final  insertion 
in    the   style   of    the    "maxim"    commentator    (verse    11): 

"The  words  of  the  wise  are  as  goads, 
And  collections  are  as  nails,  driven  with  a  mace," 

!.<?.,  the  aim  of  sayings  is  to  act  as  an  incentive  to  man,  while 
collections  of  such  sayings  skillfully  put  together  are  like 
nails  driven  into  the  proper  place.  Our  "maxim"  commen- 
tator, in  order  to  justify  his  interspersion  of  sayings  through- 
out the  book,  wants  us  to  look  upon  the  book  as  merely  a  col- 
lection of  miscellaneous  proverbs  strung  together  in  skillful 
fashion.  At  the  close  of  the  eleventh  verse  appears  an  addi- 
tion "given  by  one  shepherd,"  which  is  obscure.  "Shepherd" 
has  been  taken  in  the  sense  of  "teacher,"  and  the  phrase 
interpreted  to  mean  that  the  collection  is  by  one  author — so 
McNeile,  "Introduction  to  Ecclesiastes,"  p.  24,  and  Haupt, 
l,c.,  p.  278 — but  this  is  hardly  satisfactory.  The  phrase  may 
be  simply  a  comment  to  "goads,"  to  explain  that  the  word  refers 
to  the  staff  with  which  a  shepherd  drives  his  flock.  Then 
another  apologetic  commentator  has  his  say  by  warning  us 
against  taking  Koheleth  too  seriously.  He  indulges  in  a 
general  flingattheunceasingproductionofliterature(verse  12) : 

"Furthermore,  beware,  my  son,  of  the  writing  [literally,  making]  of 
many  books  without  end. 
And  much  discussion  [?]  is  a  weariness  of  the  flesh." 

Last  of  all,  the  pious  commentator,  as  his  parting  shot,  in  his 
usual  fashion  gives  expression  to  the  orthodox  view  (verse  13) : 
(a)    "Fear   God,    and    keep  His  commandments,"  to 
16  241 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

which  a  super-commentator  adds,  (a)  "for  this  [applies  to] 
every  man";  and  (b)  (verse  14),  "since  for  every  deed  God  will 
bring  into  judgment,"  to  which  again  a  super-commentator 
adds  (c)  "for  every  hidden  act,  whether  good  or  bad." 

1^3  Literally  "The  end  of  the  matter,"  i.e.,  finis.  This 
phrase  appears  at  the  beginning  of  verse  13,  but  ought  to  have 
been  placed  immediately  after  "all  is  vanity"  (verse  S*'). 
As  an  explanation  to  the  misplaced  phrase,  someone  added 
"all  has  been  heard" — i.e.,  the  argument  is  done.  These 
many  additions,  each  independent  of  the  other,  bear  witness 
to  the  interest  that  the  book  must  have  aroused;  and  it 
should  furthermore  be  borne  in  mind,  as  a  further  justifica- 
tion for  thus  regarding  verses  9-14  (with  the  exception  of 
"The  end  of  the  matter  "  at  the  beginning  of  verse  13)  as  a 
series  of  miscellaneous  comments,  that  in  ancient  manuscripts 
the  close  of  a  book  is  the  favorite  place  for  such  notes,  just 
as  we  are  inclined  to  scribble  some  comment  on  the  last  page 
of  a  book.  Recalling  that  in  ancient  days  a  single  manuscript 
passed  through  many  hands,  it  will  not  be  surprising  to  find 
such  comments  increasing  in  number,  as  time  went  on.  There 
might  easily  have  been  more  than  eleven  such  notes. 


APPENDIX 


I.  ADDITIONS  BY  THE  "PIOUS"  COMMENTATORS 

II.  ADDITIONS  BY  THE  "MAXIM"  COMMENTATORS 

III.  MISCELLANEOUS  COMMENTS  AND  GLOSSES 


APPENDIX 


ADDITIONS  BY  PIOUS  COMA/LENTATORS,  WHOSE 
AIM  IS  TO  OFFSET  THE  UNORTHODOX 
CHARACTER     OF     THE      ORIGINAL      BOOK 

In  i.  13.  "Through  wisdom,"  added  to  conform  to  the 
picture  of  the  "wise"  Solomon  of  tradition. 

In  i.  16.  "Wisdom,"  added  to  suggest  that  Solomon's 
greatness  and  wealth  lay  in  his  surpassing  wisdom. 

In  i.  17.  "Wisdom  and  knowledge,"  added  to  "frivolity 
and  foolishness"  as  the  aim  proper  to  the  wise  king. 

In  ii.  3.  "Though  my  mind  was  acting  with  wisdom," 
added  to  suggest  that  Koheleth,  as  the  disguise  for 
Solomon,  did  not  throw  himself  senselessly  into  all 
kinds  of  pleasure,  but  with  his  mind  intent  upon 
noting  their  effect. 

In  ii.  9.  "  However,  my  wisdom  abided  with  me  "  is  added 
with  the  same  intent  as  the  addition  to  ii.  3. 

In  ii.  12.  "Wisdom"  added  to  "madness  and  folly,"  to 
conform  to  the  traditional  picture  of  Solomon, 
ii.  26.  "For  to  the  man  who  is  good  in  His  sight.  He 
has  given  wisdom  and  knowledge  and  enjoyment, 
but  to  the  sinner  He  has  assigned  the  task  of  gath- 
ering and  amassing,  in  order  to  hand  it  over  to  the 
one  who  is  good  in  the  sight  of  God" — added  to 
tone  down  the  cynicism  in  the  advice  "to  eat, 
drink,  and  be  merry,"  as  the  best  thing  to  do 
with  one's  life. 

In  iii.  II.  "He  [z.^.,God]  has  made  everything  beautiful 
in  its  season,"  added  so  as  to  give  a  pious  turn  to 
Koheleth's  pessimistic  reflection  that  the  purpose 
of  God  is  past  finding  out. 

24s 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

In  iii.  14.  "God  has  so  made  it  that  men  will  fear  Him" 
— a  pious  reflection  that  interrupts  the  context. 

In  iii.  15.  "And  God  seeks  out  what  has  been  driven 
away,"  i.e.,  nothing  worth  preserving  is  lost  in  this 
world — a  reflection  added  by  the  pious  commentator, 
iii.  17.  "But  I  reflected  that  God  will  judge  both  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked,  for  there  is  an  appointed 
time  for  every  occurrence  and  for  every  [fixed]  act" 
added  to  counteract  Koheleth's  picture  of  a  per- 
verted world  in  which  injustice  and  wickedness  are 
triumphant,  and  to  give  a  different  turn  to  the 
sentiment  expressed  at  the  beginning  of  chapter  3. 
The  superfluous  word  "fixed"  is  omitted  in  the 
Greek  text. 

In  V.  6.  "  But  fear  God, "  added  to  give  a  pious  turn  to 
Koheleth's  rationalistic  view  of  dreams. 

In  vii.  I.  "Better  is  a  name  than  fine  oil,"  added  to 
counterbalance  Koheleth's  unorthodox  view  that 
"the  day  of  death  is  better  than  the  day  of  birth." 

In  vii.  2.  "And  the  living  will  take  it  to  mind,"  added 
to  give  a  less  objectionable  turn  to  Koheleth's 
cynicism  that  it  is  better  to  go  to  a  funeral  than 
to  a  banquet, 
vii.  3.  "Dissatisfaction  is  better  than  laughter,  for 
through  misfortune  the  mind  is  improved,"  added 
with  the  same  intent  as  the  addition  to  vii.  2. 

In  vii.  18.  "  He  who  fears  God  will  steer  clear  of  every- 
thing," added  to  tone  down  Koheleth's  point  of 
view  that  one  must  not  be  too  good  or  too  bad, 
since  excess  of  either  leads  one  into  trouble. 

In  vii.  26.  "He  that  is  good  before  God  shall  escape 
from  her,  but  the  sinner  shall  be  caught  by  her," 
added  to  give  an  assurance  of  God's  protection  of 
the  innocent  against  the  wiles  of  the  bad  woman, 
vii.  29.  "Besides,  however,  I  have  found  this,  that 
God  has  made  man  straight,  but  they  have  devised 
many  contrivances,"  added  to  support  the  ortho- 
246 


APPENDIX 

dox  point  of  view  as  found  in  Genesis,  chapter  iii, 
that  man's  sinful  state  is  due  to  his  disobedience 
of  God's   commands. 

In  viii.  2.  "Because  of  the  oath  of  God,"  added  to 
Koheleth's  advice  to  "obey  the  order  of  a  King," 
to  remove  the  ironical  spirit  in  which  it  is  offered. 

In  viii.  3.  "Do  not  plead  a  bad  cause,"  added  to  convey 
the  impression  that  this  was  the  reason  why  Kohe- 
leth  warns  one  against  rushing  into  the  royal 
presence, 
viii.  5.  "The  law  observer  shall  know  no  harm,  and  a 
wise  mind  knows  the  [proper]  time  and  manner" — 
an  addition  obviously  in  the  interest  of  orthodoxy. 

In  viii.  8.  "Nor  will  wickedness  help  its  possessors  to 
escape" — an  addition  that  is  in  the  style  of  the 
pious  commentator,  and  interrupts  Koheleth's 
point  that  no  one  is  master  of  nature  or  of  his 
fate, 
viii.  1 1-13.  "  Because  the  sentence  for  an  evil  deed  is 
not  promptly  carried  out,  therefore  the  inclination  of 
man  is  to  do  evil,  but  although  a  sinner  does  a 
great  deal  of  evil  and  is  accorded  a  respite,  yet 
I  know  that  good  fortune  will  attend  those  who 
fear  God  [comment  or  variant:  Those  who  fear 
His  presence]  and  that  it  shall  not  be  well  for  the 
wicked,  and  that  he  will  not  lengthen  out  his  days 
as  a  shadow,  [  ?]  because  he  does  not  fear  the  presence 
of  God" — a  long  addition  to  counteract  the  cyni- 
cism of  Koheleth,  who  has  just  said  that  the 
wicked  flourish  and  are  even  honored  after  they 
have  passed  away. 

In  ix.  I.  "That  the  righteous  and  the  wise  and  their 
works  are  in  the  hand  of  God,"  added  to  indicate 
what  Koheleth  meant  by  "All  this,"  which  he  was 
determined  to  find  out.  A  super-commentator 
adds  "also  hate  and  love"  sc.  are  in  the  hands  of 
God.  See  further  the  comment  to  this  verse. 
247 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

In  ix.  1 8.  "One  sinner  destroys  much  good,"  added  as 
a  "pious"  maxim  and  perhaps  misplaced.  It  fits  in 
better  at  x.  2. 

In  X.  5.  "As  an  unintentional  error,"  added  to  "real 
offences,"  to  tone  down  the  cynicism  involved  in 
Koheleth's  statement. 

In  xi.  9.  "  But  know  that  for  all  these  things  God  will 
bring  thee  into  judgment" — added  as  the  antidote 
to  the  advice  to  enjoy  oneself  to  the  full. 

In  xi.  10 — xii.  i.  Three  insertions:  (a)  "And  remove  evil 
from  thy  flesh,"  added  to  counterbalance  "And  put 
away  trouble  from  thy  mind,"  (b)  for  youth  and 
prime  are  vanity,  and  (c)  "Remember  thy  Creator 
in  the  days  of  thy  youth,"  added  to  further  counter- 
act the  objectionable  character  of  Koheleth's  advice 
to  the  young. 

In  xii.  7.  "And  the  spirit  returns  to  God  who  gave  it" 
— added  to  make  Koheleth  conform  to  the  current 
orthodox  belief, 
xii.  12.  "Beware,  my  son,  of  the  writing  of  many 
books  without  end,  and  much  discussion  [  ?]  is  a 
weariness  to  the  flesh,"  added  as  a  warning  not  to 
take  Koheleth  too  seriously,  in  case  the  pious 
additions  fail  of  their  intended  purpose  to  change 
the  objectionable  tone  and  general  unorthodox 
character  of  the  book  in  its  original  form. 

In  xii.  13.  "Fear  God  and  keep  His  commandments, 
for  this  [applies  to]  every  man,"  added  as  a  final 
summary, 
xii.  14.  "Since  for  every  deed  God  will  bring  into 
judgment,"  added  as  a  parting  shot  against  the 
cynicism  and  skepticism  of  Koheleth.  A  super- 
commentator  supplemented  this  by  adding  "for 
every  hidden  act,  whether  good  or  bad." 

248 


APPENDIX 

II 
PROVERBS  AND  PROVERBIAL  SAYINGS,  INTER- 
SPERSED THROUGHOUT  THE  BOOK  OF 
KOHELETH,  AND  WHICH  LIKEWISE  REPRE- 
SENT ADDITIONS  TO  THE  ORIGINAL  WORK, 
MADE  IN  ORDER  TO  CONVEY  THE  IMPRES- 
SION THAT  THE  BOOK  OF  KOHELETH  IS 
MERELY  h  COLLECTION  OF  WISE  AND  PRAC- 
TICAL SAYINGS  LIKE  THE  BOOK  OF  PROV- 
ERBS. IT  WAS  ALSO  HOPED  THAT  BY  THUS 
OVERLOADING  THE  BOOK  WITH  UNOBJEC- 
TIONABLE MAXIMS,  THE  CYNICAL  SAY- 
INGS, INTRODUCED  BY  KOHELETH  HIM- 
SELF IN  HIS  BOOK,  WOULD  BE  COUNTER- 
BALANCED. 

i.  15.  "The  crooked  cannot  be  straightened, 

And  the  lacking  cannot  be  suppHed." 
I.  18.  "For  in  much  wisdom  is  much  trouble, 

And  increase  of  knowledge  is  increase  of  pain, " 
In  ii.  14.  "The  wise  man  has  his  eyes  in  his  head, 
But  the  fool  walks  in  darkness." 
iii.  3-8.  "Thereisatimetodestroy,  and  a  time  to  repair. 
A   time   to    break   down,    and    a   time    to 

build  up. 
A  time  to  weep,  and  a  time  to  laugh. 
A  time  to  mourn,  and  a  time  to  dance. 
A  time  to  scatter  stones,   and   a  time   to 

gather  stones. 
A  time  to  embrace,  and  a  time  to  refrain 

from  embracing. 
A  time  to  seek,  and  a  time  to  give  up  as  lost. 
A  time  to  keep,  and  a  time  to  throw  away. 
A  time  to  rip,  and  a  time  to  sew. 
A  time  to  keep  silent,  and  a  time  to  speak. 
A  time  to  love,  and  a  time  to  hate. 
A  time  of  war,  and  a  time  of  peace." 
249 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

iv.  5.     *'The  fool  folds  his  hands  and  consumes  his 

own  flesh." 
iv.  9-12.  "Two  are  better  than  one, 

for  they  secure  a  better  return  for  their  toil." 
"In  case  they  fall,  the  one  can  lift  his  fellow  up, 
but  if  a  single  person  falls,  there  is  none  to  lift 
him  up." 
(This  may  be  an  explanatory  comment  to  the  saying 
about  "two  being  better  than  one,"  giving  the 
reason  therefor.) 

"If  two  sleep  together,  they  keep  warm, 
but  how  can  a  single  person  keep  warm  ^. 
And  if  some  one  attacks,  there  are  two  to 
withstand; 

and  a  triple  cord  is  not  easily  snapped." 
In  V.   14.     "As  he  came  naked  from  his  mother's 
womb,  so  he  returns  as  he  came." 
vi.  7.     "All  the  toil  of  a  man  is  for  his  mouth, 
and  yet  the  appetite  is  never  satisfied." 
vii.  5-6\    "  It  is  better  to  listen  to  the  rebuke  of  a  wise 
man, 

than  for  a  man  to  listen  to  the  praise  of  fools." 
"For  as  the  crackhng  of  thorns  under  a  pot, 
so  is  the  applause  of  fools." 
vii.  7.     "Extortion  deprives  a  wMse  man  of  reason, 
and  a  bribe  corrupts  the  mind." 
In  vii.  8.     "Better  patience  than  haughtiness." 
vii.  9.     "Do  not  be  prone  to  anger, 

for  anger  endures  [only]  in  the  bosom  of  fools." 
vii.   II.     "Wisdom  is  better  than  an   inheritance, 

and  an  advantage  to  the  living." 
vii.  12.     "For  the  protection  of  wisdom  is  [as  strong] 
as  the  protection  of  silver, 

And  the  advantage  of  knowledge    [variant,   wis- 
dom] is  that  it  gives  Ufe  to  those  who  possess  it." 
vii.  19.     "Wisdom  makes  a  wise  man  stronger  than 
the  ten  rulers  of  a  city." 
250 


APPENDIX 

viii.  I.     "Who  is  like  the  wise  man,  and  who  knows 
[as  he  does]  the  explanation  of  a  matter?" 
"The  wisdom  of  a  man  illumines  his  face, 
And  the  coarseness  of  his  countenance  is  changed." 
ix.  17-X,  3.     "The  words  of  the  wise,  though  spoken 
quietlv,  are  stronger  than  the  loud  crv  of  an  arch- 
fool."^ 
Better  is  wisdom  than  weapons." 

"A  dead  fly  spoils  the  perfumer's  precious  oil." 
"A  little  foolishness  annuls  wisdom." 
"A  wise  man's  mind  is  on  his  right  side, 

but  a  fool's  mind  is  on  his  left." 
"Also,  when  a  fool  struts  in  his  senseless  way, 
he  says  of  everyone  else,  'he  is  a  fool.'  " 
X.  8-15*.     "He  who  digs  a  pit  shall  fall  therein, 

And  he  who  breaks  through  a  wall,  a  ser- 
pent shall  bite  him." 
"He  who  quarries  stones  shall  be  hurt  by 
them. 
And  he  who  cleaves  wood  shall  get  a  cut." 
"If  the  iron  be  dull  [which  a  commentator 
explains    as    meaning,    'the    edge    has 
not    been    whetted'],   one    must    exert 
one's  utmost  force." 
"The  advantage  of  wisdom  is  that  it  secures 

success." 
"If  a   serpent   bites   before   it   is    charmed, 

the  charm  has  no  advantage." 
"Words  from  the  mouth  of  a  wise  man  are 
full  of  grace, 
but  the  lips  of  the  fool  confuse  him." 
"The  beginning  of  the  words  issuing   from 
him  [i.e.,  from  a  fool]  is  folly, 
And   the   end   of  his   speech   is    madness" 
[variant,  evil]. 
"The  fool  multiplies  words." 
"The  toil  of  a  fool  wears  him  out." 
251 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

X.  1 8." Through  neglect,  the  beamwork  sinks, 

And  through  idleness,  the  house  leaks." 
xi.  3-4.**  If  the  clouds  be  filled  with  rain, 

they  will  empty  themselves  on  the  earth.'* 
**If  a  tree  falls  to  the  south  or  to  the  north, 
where  the  tree  falls,  there  it  remains." 
**A  wind  observer  does  not  sow, 
And  a  cloud  gazer  does  not  harvest." 
xii.  II.  *'  The  words  of  the  wise  are  as  goads. 

And  collections  are  as  nails,  driven  with  a 
mace." 

Ill 
MISCELLANEOUS    COMMENTS    AND    GLOSSES 
ADDED  TO  THE  BOOK 
i.  I.  The  heading,  added  subsequently  to  the  comple- 
tion   of  the   book,  read  originally   (on   the  basis 
of  i.  12) 

"Words  of  Koheleth,  a  King  in   Jerusalem,"  to 
which   someone  added   "son  of  David,"  to  con- 
firm  the   implication  that    Koheleth  is    Solomon. 
See  further,  page  65,  et  seq. 
i.  2.     "Vanity  of  Vanities,  says  Koheleth,  Vanity  of 
Vanities,     All    is    vanity." — A    summary,    taken 
over  from  the  end  of  the  book,  xii.  8. 
In  i.  5.     The  word  "rises"  toward  the  end  of  the  verse 
is  to  be  taken  as  an  explanation  of  the  preceding 
word. 
In  ii.  6.     "of  trees" — added  to   "forest"  by  way  of 

explanation. 
In    iii.    12.     "to    do    good,"    probably    intentionally 
changed  from  "to  look  upon  good,"  i.e.,  to  have 
a  good  time. 
In  iii.  17.     "fixed,"  misplaced  comment,  belonging  to 

act. 
In  iii.  18.     "they  to  them" — probably  misplaced  gloss, 
belonging  to  v.  19.     See  the  comment  in  note  50 
to  V.  18. 

252 


APPENDIX 

In  iii.  21.  "to  the  earth,"  explanatory  gloss  to  "goes 
down." 

In  iv.  15.  "the  second"  added  to  "child,"  and  probably 
a  misplaced  note  to  "the  one"  in  v.  10. 

In  iv.  16.  "before  whom  he  was,"  added  as  a  note  to 
the  word  "all." 

In  V.  3.  "For  He  {i.e.^  God)  has  no  pleasure  in  fools," 
a  misplaced  gloss  to  the  word  "fools"  in  iv.  17. 

In  V.  8.  "attached  to  a  field"  (translation  doubtful!) 
appears  to  be  a  misplaced  and  corrupt  gloss  to  the 
word  ^'laborer"  in  v.  11. 

In  V.  12.  "to  his  hurt,"  added  as  an  explanatory  gloss 
to  "owner." 

In  vi.  3.  "And  he  has  not  even  a  burial,"  added  to 
complete  the  picture  of  an  unhappy  and  useless 
life,  because  deprived  of  joy. 

In  vii.  12.  "wisdom,"  added  as  a  variant  to  "knowl- 
edge, "  to  suggest  the  synonymity  of  the  two  terms. 

In  vii.  25.  "my  heart  to  know,"  gloss  explanatory  of 
the  phrase,  "I  resolved." 
vii.  27.  "See,  this,  I  have  found,  Koheleth  says,  one 
and  one  to  find  the  sum,"  a  comment  to  explain 
the  word  "substance,"  in  verse  25. 
viii.  6-7.  Two  insertions:  (a)  "for  to  every  occurence 
there  is  a  time  and  manner,"  added  by  a  super- 
commentator  to  the  "pious"  reflection  in  v.  5; 
(b)  "for  man's  evil  weighs  heavily  upon  him  that 
there  is  no  one  who  knows  the  future,  so  that  he 
might  tell  a  man  when  it  will  come" — likewise 
a  misplaced  comment  and  belonging  probably 
to  vi.  12. 

In  viii.  12.  "Those  who  fear  His  presence,"  a  variant 
or  comment  to  "those  who  fear  God." 

In  ix.  I.  "Also  hate  and  love,"  added  by  a  super-com- 
mentator. 

In  ix.  9.  "All  the  days  of  thy  vanity,"  a  variant  or 
comment  to  "all  the  days  of  thy  vain  life." 

253 


A  GENTLE  CTNIC 

In  ix.  12.  "evil,"  added  to  "net"  is  quite  superfluous. 
The  word  "evil"  may  be  misplaced,  and  have 
been  intended  as  the  subject  of  "comes  suddenly" 
in  V.  13. 

In  X.  10.  "the  edge  has  not  been  whetted,"  added 
as  an  explanatory  note  to  "if  the  iron  be  dull." 

In  X.  13.     "evil,"  added  as  a  variant  to  "madness." 

In  X.  14.  "Man  does  not  know  what  shall  be,  and 
who  can  tell  him  what  will  be  after  him" — prob- 
ably a  misplaced  comment.  It  fits  in  at  vi.  12 
or  viii.  7. 

In  X.  15.     "Who  does  not  know  his  way  to  the  city" — 
a  gloss  to  the  word  "fool"  in  v.  12,  14  or  15. 
X.  19.     "A  feast  is  made  for  laughter, 
with  wine  to  enliven  life, 

and  sufficient  money  to  provide  for  everything" 
— added  as  an  explanation  to  the  proper  kind  of 
feasting. 

In  xi.  2.  "evil,"  added  to  "what"  by  some  commenta- 
tor. 

In  xii.  2.  "And  the  Hght  and  the  moon  and  the  stars," 
added  by  way  of  elaboration  and  as  a  comment 
to  "sun,"  to  suggest  that  by  "sun"  all  phases  of 
light  are  meant — the  light  of  the  moon  and  of  the 
stars  as  well. 

In  xii.  8.  "Vanity  of  vanities,  says  Koheleth,"  added 
to  "all  is  vanity,"  which  was  originally  the  close 
of  the  book. 

For  the  eleven  comments  at  the  end  of  the  book  xii.  9-14, 
see  note  192  to  the  translation,  p.  240.  Of  these, 
three  (xii.  12-14)  ^^e  by  the  "pious"  commenta- 
tor, (see  above,  p.  248),  with  an  addition  by  a  super- 
commentator  "for  every  hidden  act,  whether 
goodorbad"  (xii.  14^),  one  (xii.  11)  by  the  "maxim" 
commentator  (above  p.  241),  and  the  balance 
represent  miscellaneous  comments  partly  of  an 
explanatory  and  partly  of  an  apologetic  character. 

254 


APPENDIX 

Purely  explanatory  is  the  comment  to  the  words,  "End 
of  the  matter"  (verse  13"),  i.e..,  finis,  the  end  of 
the  book,  to  which  the  comment  "all  has  been 
heard,"  i.e.,  the  argument  is  finished,  has  been 
added.  Verses  9-10  contain  five  comments  of  an 
apologetic  nature,  one  superimposed  on  the  other 
m  succession,  to  explain  who  Koheleth  was,  what 
he  did  and  what  his  aim  was,  viz.,  (a)  he  was  wise, 
and  taught  people,  (b)  he  compiled  many  proverbs, 
(c)  he  tried  to  write  in  an  interesting  manner,  (d) 
but  he  was  frank,  (e)  he  spoke  the  truth.  Quite 
obscure  is  the  comment,  "given  by  one  shepherd" 
(in  V.  11).  It  may  be  a  misplaced  comment  to 
the  word  "goads"  in  the  first  part  of  verse  11. 


By  MORRIS  JASTROW,  Jr.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
IN  PREPARATION 

UNIFORM    WITH    THIS    VOLUME 

The  Book  of  Job 
The  Song  of  Songs 


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.'j;s«Mi» 


BS1475.4.J39 

A  gentle  cynic  :  being  a  translation  of 

Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00051   7419 


